Several months before the public exchange between Alabama football coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M counterpart Jimbo Fisher over the name, image and likeness landscape, the Southeastern Conference experienced a unique occurrence in the transfer portal.
On Nov. 27 of last year, LSU quarterback Max Johnson connected with Jaray Jenkins on a 28-yard touchdown pass with 20 seconds remaining to propel the Tigers to a 27-24 thriller over Texas A&M in Baton Rouge, which gave LSU coach Ed Orgeron a memorable result in his final game. Five weeks after that result, LSU hired Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly as Orgeron’s successor, but that announcement came two weeks after Johnson transferred to the program he had just defeated.
“We talk about it,” Texas A&M redshirt junior guard Layden Robinson said with a smile at last month’s SEC media days. “We’re like, ‘Man, why did you have to do that to us on the last play?’ He’s like, ‘I was just doing my job.’
“That was an amazing game, and him coming over and bringing his energy has been an amazing fit.”
Aggies senior safety Demani Richardson was part of the secondary that Johnson torched for 306 aerial yards and three touchdowns, but he didn’t need long to embrace the former enemy.