Ron Johnson, who would have been a senior on the 2017 football team, announced on his Facebook page that he intended to transfer.

Johnson was one of the players who committed to UConn not long after Bob Diaco was named the Huskies' head coach. He led UConn in rushing as a true freshman with 429 yards with 168 coming in the final two games of the season. The 67 yards against Memphis and 101 against SMU ended up being his two top rushing games as a Husky. He had 65 rushing yards in each of the 2015 and 2016 season openers but both seasons he lost carries to classmate and roommate Arkeel Newsome as the season went along.

Johnson finished with 895 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns in 36 career games.

Newsome returns for his senior season after leading the Huskies in rushing in each of the last two seasons, former walk-on Jason Thompson, who had three carries for 20 yards last season, and freshmen Nate Hopkins and Ja'kevious Vickers are the only other scholarship running backs for UConn.