Syracuse lands FCS All-American pass rusher Keyshawn Johnson from UT Martin

Syracuse added one of the FCS portal’s most coveted pass rushers, landing UT Martin edge rusher Keyshawn Johnson after a recruiting battle that also included Clemson and Illinois. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound defender transferred in January 2026 after two seasons with the Skyhawks and arrives with the kind of production Power programs chase when they need immediate pressure off the edge.

Johnson’s 2025 season was the kind that changes a player’s market. He set a new UT Martin single-season record with 13.5 sacks, piled up 20.0 tackles for loss and finished with 53 total tackles, including 30 solo stops. He also forced two fumbles and added 10 quarterback hurries, numbers that made him a disruptive weekly problem for opposing offenses and pushed him to third nationally in both sacks per game, at 1.13, and tackles for loss per game, at 1.67.

That production earned Johnson the 2025 Ohio Valley Conference-Big South Defensive Player of the Year award and first-team All-America honors from both the Associated Press and AFCA. Those honors, paired with the raw pass-rush totals, made him one of the most proven defensive transfers available in the FCS market. Syracuse’s official spring roster now lists him as a linebacker, a sign that the Orange intend to use him as a versatile front-seven piece while still banking on his edge speed and finishing ability.

Johnson’s path to Syracuse also showed how aggressive the Power Four has become when targeting established FCS defenders. He visited Clemson on Jan. 7, 2026, then was set to visit Syracuse the following day before ultimately choosing the Orange. That sequence underscores a growing reality for FCS programs: when a player develops into an NFL-caliber edge threat, the next stop is often a major-conference roster willing to pay for proven production rather than projection.

Johnson’s rise began even earlier at Grambling State, where he spent one season and earned freshman All-America recognition from Stats Perform and FCS Football Central in 2023. By the time he finished at UT Martin, he had become one of the most decorated defenders in the program’s recent history and the type of transfer who can alter a defensive line’s ceiling the moment he steps on campus.

For Syracuse, the addition fits a larger portal overhaul as the Orange replace multiple departing defensive contributors and seek more reliable pass rush production. For UT Martin and the broader FCS, it is another reminder that elite edge rushers rarely stay hidden for long once they start turning backfields into wreckage.