Mark Stoops: UGA transfer Jamon Dumas-Johnson bringing 'winning culture with him'
Kentucky landed a big fish out of the transfer portal with the commitment of former Georgia linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson. And head coach Mark Stoops was certainly pleased with the addition.
Stoops has not been shy about clamoring for NIL money and resources to pursue big-time transfers and bring them to Lexington. Now that the Wildcats have Dumas-Johnson in the fold, Stoops raved about the addition to the roster.
“He brings an awful lot to our football team. … He has a burning desire to bring that winning culture with him,” Stoops said, according to the Louisville Courier Journal’s Ryan Black.
A junior in 2023, Dumas-Johnson was expected to be a star in the middle of the Georgia defense in his third season of playing. And while he played well during the time he was available, an injury ended his season after nine games.
Dumas-Johnson was a finalist for the Butkus Award in 2022 and considered one of the favorites to potentially win it in 2023, being named to numerous All-American teams in the preseason. He exploded for 70 tackles, four sacks and nine tackles for loss in 2022.
He left Georgia with 17 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, one interception, six passes defensed and 125 tackles in 38 career appearances.
Dumas-Johnson was the top linebacker in the transfer portal, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Player Rankings. He’s the No. 40 overall player.
As a recruit, he was the No. 240 overall prospect in the 2021 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also ranked as the nation’s No. 28 linebacker and the No. 11 recruit in Maryland.
Portal moves don’t phase Stoops anymore
When it was clear that Stoops was returning to Kentucky in 2024, he hit the ground running on the transfer portal trail.
Not content with how his offense executed Liam Coen’s schemes this season, Stoops has completely overhauled his offensive skill positions with four of the top 200 players in the early portal cycle — including a former five-star quarterback, a top-five running back and two plug-and-play wide receivers.
According to Stoops, Kentucky’s success isn’t that much of a surprise — and he’s not planning on slowing down before the transfer portal window closes.
“I mean, maybe a couple, but no — we’re working through a couple also, so we are not completely shut down,” Stoops said of his current state with the transfer portal. “There has been great communication there both ways. As I mentioned before, a lot of times there’s mutual [interest], and then some that are clearly not. You try to continue to work through and fight for them.
“But we are not totally done yet with all of that, but I feel very good about our additions. We’re not quite done there as well, so we’ll continue to work on that.”