Prior to his senior season at Hamilton High School just north of Cincinnati, Johnson committed to play at the University of California, picking the Golden Bears over offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Iowa State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State and others.
But after taking an official late visit to Iowa, he flipped his commitment to the Hawkeyes.
"He was committed to Cal and kind of just wanted to be done with the recruiting process," said Mahon. "And then I had a friend of mine. His name's George Barnett. He's the offensive line coach at Iowa. George was actually at Miami, Ohio, under Chuck Martin for a long time. And so I played at Miami, Ohio, so I've gotten to know Chuck Martin and his staff and George for a while. So anyway, when George got the offensive line job for Iowa. He called me and said, 'Is Caleb set on going to Cal?' and I said, 'You know, I don't know, what's your thoughts?' And he said, 'We really like him. We'd love for him to just take a visit.'
"I convinced Caleb to go up there. So myself and my family took Caleb and his grandfather, Jeffrey, all went, and that was the game that Iowa, I think, when they were No. 5 or 6 in the country, and they beat No. 2, Penn State, and he changed his commitment, and the rest is history."
In today's college football landscape, getting a player to commit is one thing. Keeping them at one school is another.
But one of the hallmarks of the Iowa program is that players go there and largely stay there.
Johnson rushed for a team-best 779 yards as a true freshman, but injuries limited him to just 10 games and 117 carries in his sophomore season, when he rushed for 463 yards.
Last season, he rushed for 1,537 yards and 21 touchdowns on just 240 carries, adding 22 receptions for 188 yards and two more scores. The Hawkeyes scored 40 offensive touchdowns in 2024 and Johnson accounted for 23 of them.
"We've had some challenges at the quarterback position due to injuries and our receivers," Ferentz said. "We're closer to getting those addressed. But the best thing we did last year's running the football. We had a pretty veteran line, and then, you know, Kaleb just did a great job. And I think the thing about it, we all knew he was a good player. He played pretty well his freshman year, not as productive the second year. He just took a huge step last year and really blossomed and played and practiced with great consistency. Week in and week out, we knew what was going to look like across the ball, and the guys up front did a good job. The receivers did a good job blocking, tight ends, and Kaleb just played fantastic football."
Johnson is quick to credit his teammates for his 2024 season, as well.