Penn State Men’s Basketball: Nittany Lions Land North Carolina Transfer Puff Johnson

Penn State men’s basketball added North Carolina junior forward Puff Johnson out of the transfer portal on Wednesday.

Johnson, who was rated the No. 62 overall player in the country for the 2020 recruiting class, made an official visit to Penn State this past weekend. He is the brother of Brooklyn Net standout Cameron Johnson, who Nittany Lion head coach Mike Rhoades recruited while at Rice prior to his time at VCU.

The 6-foot-8, 200-pound small forward averaged 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds this past season for the Tar Heels while playing around 16 minutes per game. Johnson was reportedly garnering interest from all across college basketball after entering the portal. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Johnson hails from Moon Township outside of Pittsburgh, but played his senior season of high school ball at Hillcrest Prep in Arizona.

He is the latest in a long line of roster changes under new head coach Mike Rhoades who is looking to put together the pieces of the Nittany Lions’ 2023-24 roster following the departure of now former head coach Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame. Johnson joins former VCU guards Ace Baldwin and Nick Kern and Temple forward Zach Hicks. Rhoades was also able to keep guard Jameel Brown who briefly entered the portal following Shrewsberry’s departure but announced his intentions to stay at Penn State.

With plenty of space left to fill, Johnson stands to not be the last addition to the NIttany Lions’ roster this summer.