The Tar Heels are continuing to piece together their 2025 roster prior to the team’s trip to Boston for the Fenway Bowl and one of the biggest positions of need that remains is safety. As of Wednesday, the team is now officially in the race for one of the top safeties remaining in the portal.
According to a report from On3 Sports transfer portal reporter Pete Nakkos, the Tar Heels are one of the teams that have expressed interest in Georgia State transfer safety Jeremiah Johnson. The Tar Heels are joined by Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Missouri, Penn State, USC and Vanderbilt as the teams that have been in contact with him since his agents stated he would enter the transfer portal on Tuesday. He should have two years of eligibility remaining after starting his career at the JUCO level.
Johnson spent the last three years with the Panthers, starting every game the last two seasons at one of the safety spots. In 2023, he finished third on the team in total tackles with 73, but had some trouble in coverage despite pulling down two interceptions. He allowed 536 yards and four touchdowns and had a 124.3 rating when thrown at, which was a big part of why he only landed All-Sun Belt honorable mention honors at the end of the year. This season, Johnson finished with a team-leading 69 total tackles and was much more impactful in coverage. On the same amount of completions as a year ago, 26, he allowed just 283 yards and two touchdowns and had a 120.1 rating when thrown at. While he didn’t have any interceptions, he did have four pass breakups after having zero a year ago.
Johnson would be a solid addition to that safety that is losing both starters to graduation this offseason. Will Hardy played more towards the end of the season and could get a shot to be the full time starter there this season, but it feels like the other spot needs filling because of how young the room is and how little the previous staff trusted DeAndre Boykins.
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