Montrell Johnson decided it was time to raise his grade point average. The Highlands senior spent a lot of time working to bring his average up to close to 3.0.
When he verbally committed to play football at Saint Francis University last week, Johnson believed he had everything in place to live his dream of playing Division I.
But like many others, Johnson was shocked Tuesday afternoon when the school announced it would be dropping out of D-I after the 2025-26 school year. The Red Flash’s teams will reclassify to D-III and join the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
Johnson is now one of many Pittsburgh-area athletes and coaches who wonder what their future will be.
“I was shocked and just sad because I’ve worked so hard for that roster spot, spending days and nights making sure I met the school requirements and had everything SFU requested from me,” Johnson said. “I was very disappointed because there wasn’t a single warning or anything to any athlete. I chose SFU over other programs because I loved the culture of their small Division I institution.”
Johnson badly wanted his landing spot to be secure. Johnson has struggled with homelessness. Since the start of 2025, Johnson said he has lived between four or five different households. Three of his teammates’ families on the Golden Rams football team have taken him in.
Neither of Johnson’s parents have been in his life for some time.
“I have a very deep story, and SFU was kind of a hard-work-pays-off type of situation,” Johnson said. “My parents haven’t been in my life for a while now, and I’m actually living with a teammate until college. But this whole situation happened right when I thought I did it without any help. Now, I have to restart.”
Charting a path forward
Not everyone can change course so quickly. Saint Francis redshirt sophomore tight end Brandon London (Shaler) said he plans to stay for the program’s final Division I season next year. London said he found out about the news through other teammates who had seen the email before he did.
London admired how the Red Flash’s football coaches had an emergency plan in place.
Almost immediately, London said Saint Francis’ coaching staff told current players to expect coaches from other programs to contact them.
While London said he hadn’t received word from anyone, he had noticed several coaches from other programs now following him on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“As soon as the news came out, the coaches had a meeting and they talked about the ‘Last Dance’ and Michael Jordan agenda,” said London. “It was inspiring to me. For the coaches, this is real. Their jobs may be on the line. To put that much effort in meant a lot.”
The Red Flash will have one more season in the Northeast Conference to compete. London, a nursing student, would like to use that year as an audition.
“The toughest part is this was only two hours from my parents so they could come and watch,” London said. “I want to work hard this summer and put the best season on tape I can. I plan to work as hard as I can.”
Recent success makes change hard to swallow
The timing of everything has made the situation difficult for current Red Flash and alumni. Saint Francis beat Kent State in football last fall, the Red Flash’s first win over an FBS school.
This winter, the Red Flash made the NCAA Tournament in men’s basketball for the first time since 1991.
Former Saint Francis standout Lorenzo Jerome, who went to Coral Springs (Fla.) High School, said the Red Flash were the only program that offered him a scholarship out of high school.
Jerome made the San Francisco 49ers roster to start the 2017 season and later played in the Canadian Football League.
“When they went and did that, I was in shock (Tuesday),” Jerome said. “I feel terrible for the coaches. How can they make that decision? For the onboarding recruits who committed and the coaches who work to better the program, I want to say it’s disrespectful.”
Jessica Kovatch graduated from Saint Francis in 2019. She said having the opportunity to play at a smaller D-I institution meant a lot to her.
Knowing other kids won’t have that opportunity is disappointing for her.
“I wanted to play at the highest level of competition,” Kovatch said. “Being a Division I athlete meant a lot to me. It gave us so many opportunities we may not have had otherwise. With the decision that was made, I see a lot of people on social media talking about how heartbroken they are. From Division I to Division III is a hard adjustment.”
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Jerome still hopes the decision can be reversed.
Many alumni had expressed interest in helping with NIL but felt the administration wasn’t willing to work with them.
“If there’s a fight, there’s a fight,” Jerome said. “If it doesn’t work, at least we tried.”