Clemson made a lot of moves in the transfer portal addressing the defense this offseason, but there wasn’t much added on the offensive side of the ball.
However, the Tigers’ big transfer addition on offense is an impact player – SMU transfer running back Chris Johnson Jr. — one of the fastest backs in the country, if not the fastest.
The Athletic’s Manny Navarro named his favorite offseason personnel move for each Power 4 college football team, and for Clemson, Navarro’s favorite move is adding the speedy Johnson to the backfield.
“Dabo Swinney is recycling his former offensive coordinator Chad Morris after the Garrett Riley hire didn’t pan out,” Navarro wrote. “Johnson, a former Miami signee, has track speed and averaged 7.1 yards per rushing attempt at SMU in [2025]. Will he solve all of Clemson’s woes? No. But he’ll help.”
Johnson spent his first three college seasons at Miami, playing 16 games for the Hurricanes from 2023-24 and then 12 at SMU in 2025. The 6-foot, 185-pounder rushed 84 times for 583 yards with five touchdowns, caught 26 passes for 254 yards with three touchdowns, and returned 22 kickoffs for 522 yards across those three seasons.
In 2025, Johnson finished third on SMU in rushing attempts (67) and second in rushing yards (479) and rushing touchdowns (four), while adding 17 catches for 180 yards with a receiving touchdown. In SMU’s 35-24 win at Clemson on Oct. 18, he rushed six times for 59 yards and a touchdown while catching four passes for 40 yards.
A former four-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, Johnson lettered at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he was also one of the state’s premier sprinters. He won Florida’s 3A state title in the 100-meter dash (10.45) and 200-meter dash (20.78) as a junior and anchored a 4×100 team that captured gold during his sophomore year.
In January, Swinney described Johnson as “touchdown fast.”
“He is fast, fast,” Swinney said. “He brings a unique skillset. When you talk about threatening horizontally and vertically, he is touchdown fast, meaning if he breaks a tackle, it is a touchdown. If they miss a tackle, it is a touchdown. I think he still has the 200M record in the state of Florida. A really unique guy.”
