Northwestern Football Adds UCF EDGE Jamaal Johnson from the Transfer Portal

As the curtain closes on the 2025 season, the Northwestern Wildcats are already deep into the architecture of their 2026 roster. The focus has quickly shifted from reflection to reconstruction, and nowhere is that process more urgent than along the defensive front.

Northwestern enters the new cycle facing a major challenge after losing key contributors Aidan Hubbard, Anto Saka, and Richie Hagarty. Those departures account for three of the Wildcats’ top four defensive end rotators, leaving a significant gap in both experience and depth. To stabilize the defensive end position, Northwestern secured a commitment from UCF EDGE Jamaal Johnson on January 6.

Transfer Portal Becomes the Blueprint for UCF's Jamaal Johnson

The NCAA transfer portal, which officially runs from January 2 through January 16, has once again become the primary tool for roster recalibration across college football. For Northwestern, the objective was clear from the outset.

Let’s Work 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/bYYqGhyf0n
— Jamaal Johnson (@JamaalJ99_) January 6, 2026

The Wildcats needed a veteran presence who could step in quickly and handle the physical demands of Big Ten football. Johnson becomes the Wildcats’ second transfer portal addition of the cycle and arrives as a timely answer to a pressing need.

That urgency has defined a busy offseason. Northwestern has already welcomed 16 incoming transfers while seeing 13 players exit the program, signaling a full-scale reshaping of the depth chart. Within that larger movement, one addition stands out for its immediate relevance to the defensive rebuild.

Johnson is listed at 6-foot-2 and 245 pounds and brings one year of eligibility to Evanston. His arrival gives head coach David Braun a short-term solution with long-term value, adding a player who has already logged meaningful snaps at the Power Five level.

Johnson’s most recent season at UCF showed exactly why Northwestern targeted him. During the 2025 campaign, he appeared in all 12 games for the Knights and recorded 24 tackles along with 1.5 tackles for loss.

What Johnson Means for Northwestern’s Defense

Over the course of his collegiate career, Johnson has played in 31 games and totaled 38 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and one sack. While those numbers do not jump off the stat sheet, they reflect reliability and durability, two traits Northwestern values heavily in its early-down defenders.

Johnson’s move to the Big Ten also represents the next step for a player who was highly recruited out of high school. A native of Hollywood, Florida, he was rated as a three-star prospect and chose UCF over offers from Miami, Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Before reaching college football, Johnson made his name at Chaminade-Madonna Prep, one of Florida’s most dominant programs. He was a key contributor on defenses that reached six consecutive state championship games.

His senior season in 2021 was especially memorable. Johnson posted 74 tackles and an eye-catching 19 sacks, helping lead his team to the Florida 3A state championship. In the title game against Tampa Berkeley Prep, he delivered nine tackles to cap a season in which Chaminade-Madonna finished ranked first overall in the state.

More from Northwestern On SI

Stay up to date on the Wildcats by bookmarking Northwestern On SI.