Utah State Fan Favorite Isaac Johnson Hits Transfer Portal

LOGAN, Utah- Isaac Johnson was among the more than 700 college basketball players who entered their names into the transfer portal at its opening yesterday, as he will seek a new opportunity for his senior year.

The fan favorite, nicknamed “Big Fish”, spent two years in Logan after transferring from Oregon and was a key part of the Aggies’ first NCAA Tournament win in more than two decades last season.

Utah State junior Isaac Johnson has entered the transfer portal.

The 7’0” center appeared in 30 games averaging 3.7 PPG, and 1.7 RPG. Johnson averaged 6.6 PPG, and 3.1 RPG with the Aggies in 2023-24.

— PortalUpdates (@portal_updates) March 24, 2025

Isaac Johnson appeared in 30 games for the Aggies this season and started in 12, however, his production dropped considerably with the transition from Danny Sprinkle to Jerrod Calhoun.

In 2023-2024, Johnson started in 31 of Utah State’s 35 games and averaged 15 minutes a night. He pulled down more than six points and pulled down three rebounds a game, and for a 7-footer, he shot a respectable 34.2% from beyond the arc, giving defenses a headache with his ability to space the floor.

Isaac solidified his Utah State legacy when he scored a career-high 19 points against TCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year. His efficient performance of 60% shooting from the field with two three-pointers and four blocks helped the Aggies secure their first March Madness win since 2001.

However, the coaching change was not kind to Johnson. Danny Sprinkle took off to Washington, and Utah State hired Jerrod Calhoun. While Calhoun’s first season in Logan was wildly successful, Isaac Johnson simply didn’t fit into his system.

He saw the floor an average of six fewer minutes per night, and he started in less than half the games he did the previous year.

His best performance of the year was when he hit four three-pointers in 12 minutes against the Air Force Academy in January, but other than that, he only achieved double-digit scoring figures one other time all season.

Despite the dip in production and losing his spot in the rotation, Isaac Johnson was always active on the bench, cheering on his teammates. It takes something special for a team to win 26 games in the first year of a head coach, and a high component of that success is a unified locker room. Johnson seemed to be a great teammate throughout the season, and will now look to find the right fit for him in the transfer portal.

The Transfer Portal

There have been two major contributing factors to the state of college athletics when it comes to the astronomical number of players hitting the transfer portal.

The first was the implementation of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in 2021, which allowed college athletes the ability to profit off their personal brand legally for the first time. The second factor was a new transfer rule passed by the NCAA last year that gave a transferring player immediate eligibility at their new stop, as opposed to having to wait a year to start play.

Athletes’ ability to get paid paired with instant eligibility with a new team after transferring have bred a wild landscape of bidding wars between institutions for athletes, players suiting up for a new team every year, tampering mid-season, and so on.

The loose rules from the NCAA that don’t require contracts between players and their schools, and little oversight from the league have caused an extremely unstable and unpredictable system where entire rosters are flipped and reconstructed each year. Many mid-major programs have suffered from instability as their top players are leaving after a short period of time with the program.

For some players, transferring means true progression to a bigger opportunity or more playing time with a team that fits their style, but for others, it comes down to where they will be able to make the most money.

College athletes cannot be criticized for seeking a life-changing payday. For many, they will support their families with the money they make from playing college sports. The issue comes with the system that is fostering such chaos.

According to 247sports.com, more than 2,000 student-athletes entered the transfer portal last year, but that number might be easily surpassed in 2025.

Some of the numbers being thrown out on some of the players in the portal are just stupid. Kids are asking for crazy amounts of money. And they’re getting it.

One player who earned 50k last season (and was a fine player last year) was just offered over a million by a B10…

— Scott Garrard (@ScottyGZone) March 25, 2025

Tanner Tripp is a sports writer for KSL Sports covering all teams across the state of Utah. Follow him on X @tanner_tripp and Instagram @tanner.tripp here.

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