Vanderbilt Commodores Backup Quarterback Nate Johnson Entering Transfer Portal

The Vanderbilt Commodores have lost their potential quarterback of the future to the transfer portal.

Backup quarterback Nate Johnson, who also had 11 rushing attempts this season, is entering the portal as first reported by Pete Thamel of ESPN. According to Thamel, Johnson is open to playing both quarterback as well as the possibility of wide receiver wherever he winds up with two years of eligibility remaining.

Johnson was rated by 247's composite rankings as the No. 16 ranked quarterback in the class of 2022 and chose to play for the Utah Utes. Attempting just one pass his freshman season, Johnson made three starts as a sophomore and appeared in 12 games overall between the two seasons.

After the end of last season where he threw for nearly 500 yards and 3 touchdowns along with 235 rushing yards and 2 more scores, Johnson entered the transfer portal and wound up at Vanderbilt along with New Mexico State transfer Diego Pavia. While Johnson and Pavia battled it out to win the starting job, Pavia obviously prevailed and went on to have a historic season for the Commodores.

Johnson appeared in five games this season for Vanderbilt, throwing just three passes but getting 11 rushing attempts which he turned into 114 yards and a touchdown.

With Pavia's eligibility or potential transfer status still up in the air, Johnson has decided that a second transfer in as many years is going to give him to best opportunity both to play and get a chance to enter 'free agency' again as a player in the portal being recruited by other schools utilizing NIL.

The portal officially opens on Monday, November 9, so any news surrounding players entering the portal does not become official until then.

According to On3, more than 2,800 FBS players entered their names into the portal during last year's cycle and 2,707 of them actually did complete transfers rather than deciding to stay at their school or go pro. That ridiculous number composes almost 25 percent of all FBS scholarship players to leave their schools in just one cycle.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see that number climb even higher this time around, and Johnson could be just the start for Vanderbilt.