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Pete Thamel, ESPN
As he pondered the color overhaul of his new car earlier this summer, Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson unleashed a Cheshire grin.
He’d been driving a red Corvette Stingray around campus, and if that wasn’t recognizable enough, he’d decided on a new color that would be familiar to Wildcats fans.
As Johnson took the keys to the Kansas State offense — and, really, the entire Kansas State program — this offseason, he knew that everyone would be watching.
Just like when he zips through Manhattan in his lavender Stingray.
“Everybody’s going to know it’s me,” Johnson said with a laugh earlier this summer. “That’s a good and a bad thing.”
Johnson is a local kid from Wichita who had loads of big-time scholarship offers before ultimately picking Kansas State after visiting Washington and Oregon. He’s also a shy kid who says he walks campus with his long hair typically bundled underneath a hoodie.
So far, being the in-state star who stayed home and has all eyes on him has been a very good thing for Johnson and the Wildcats. Johnson is a sophomore with trademark flow, an unmistakable ride and an electric playing style.
Johnson’s commitment to the Wildcats — and his combination of unlimited upside and a 2-0 start to this season — have allowed the Wildcats to dream on a whole new plane.
As Johnson leads No. 14 Kansas State against No. 20 Arizona on Friday night in a bizarro nonconference matchup of two Big 12 teams, he has been solid in his first full season as a starter. That included leading a 10-point second-half comeback in a 34-27 win over Tulane last week to keep Kansas State’s dreams as vast as Johnson’s potential.
“Our goals are obviously make the Big 12 championship, win the Big 12 and get into that College Football Playoff spot,” Johnson said. “But let’s go make a run for it [because] we’re not just here because we won the Big 12. We want to go out there and compete and show that we can compete at the highest level.”
Johnson has taken a proud and successful program, which for years operated with a defiant lack of flash, and made it dream a little bolder. Even the understated Kansas State coach, Chris Klieman, dips into hyperbole when reflecting on Johnson’s potential.
Klieman and the Wildcats’ staff began recruiting Johnson hard as a sophomore and hung in there when glitzier brands jumped into the fray. When Johnson finally committed, Klieman had a simple reaction: “I knew we had a generationally talented kid.”
And Friday night in the week’s only matchup involving top-20 teams, everyone will have a chance to see the player who’ll be driving Kansas State’s program into the future.
Few coaches have the recent quarterback pedigree of Klieman, who rattles off an impressive list of players he’s either recruited, coached or developed on their way to the NFL — Carson Wentz, Easton Stick, Trey Lance and Skylar Thompson.
When it came to Johnson, geography played a big role in Klieman’s recruiting pitch, as Wichita is just two hours south. At the time, Klieman also had the last Heisman-caliber Kansas State quarterback as his lead recruiter. Who knew better the power of Kansas State than Collin Klein? The Kansas State offensive coordinator, who left after last season for Texas A&M, finished third in the Heisman Trophy race in 2012, ramming Kansas State into the national consciousness.
The staff pitched similar potential, all playing out in front of his loved ones.
“We just needed to keep selling his brand in the state of Kansas and how his legacy in the state of Kansas could be about anything he wanted it to be,” Klieman said. “And it could be much bigger back home with all his family being able to watch him play and the fact that we were going to be successful.”
There was plenty to like about Johnson for the Kansas State staff. But the one thing that stuck out to Klieman, was even as Johnson emerged as one of the country’s top recruits at quarterback — ESPN ranked him the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback behind Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma) and Jaden Rashada (Arizona State, Georgia) — he still played both basketball and baseball in high school.
“I appreciated him because he didn’t say, ‘I’m going to specialize,'” Klieman said. “He’s going to keep playing [the other sports]. And that’s what Carson did. That’s what Easton did, that’s what Trey did. They played all these other sports. I think it’s going to help him.”
Johnson acknowledged that when he made his decision to stay local, it was met with skepticism. He said he received “a lot of negative feedback,” as he’d visited Washington and Oregon and had offers from Notre Dame, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Florida State.
“One of the main reasons I wanted to come here was that Kansas State doesn’t get enough respect, and I just wanted to help start something,” he said. “And I don’t mean start something as in like, oh, I started this, but I wanted to help bring people to Kansas State and win here because it’s a really good program and they care about the right things.
“It’s not just they want you to be a good person, they want you to go to school, get a degree, have life after football. It’s not just what can you do for me on Saturdays.”
Johnson did know there was a manageable path for him to contribute early in his career on Saturdays but just not immediately. He arrived in the spring of 2023 with Will Howard entrenched as the starter in the wake of Kansas State’s Big 12 title run in 2022.
When Johnson arrived, he received a quick tutorial in preparation and professionalism from Howard. He quickly followed Howard’s routine of watching film during the week. They would dissect Saturday’s game on Sunday and then have specific days to study parts of the plan for the upcoming week — Mondays they watched two-minute, Tuesdays blitzes and pressures. That gave Johnson a chance to absorb and eventually develop a routine that worked for him.
The quarterbacks roomed together on the road, and Johnson said he wouldn’t have been as ready to take over the starting job this season without Howard as a mentor.
Soon enough, Johnson performed well enough to earn snaps for the Wildcats. His breakout game came against Texas Tech, when the Kansas State offense needed a spark in Lubbock in mid-October. Johnson came off the bench to rush for five touchdowns in a 38-21 road win.
Johnson summed up the night this way: “I wasn’t doing anything spectacular, I was just fast.”
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire had an bit less understated recollection. “He is a stud,” McGuire said. “I mean, he gives you nightmares just from the standpoint of the quarterback run game.”
And for Klieman, the performance began to push into focus a difficult decision.
“He had an unbelievable breakout game, but we also knew that we still got a lot of football season left, so we need to keep playing both these guys,” Klieman said.
Klieman played both quarterbacks down the stretch last season. Howard was a very good Big 12 quarterback who had a year of eligibility remaining, and the prevailing thought was that he’d turn pro. After Kansas State finished the regular season at 8-4, Howard and Klieman sat down in his office. “I knew something had to give,” Klieman said.
Klieman recalled Howard telling him: “I think what’s going to happen is you’re going to go with Avery next year.”
Klieman responded: “Yeah, Will, he’s going to be the guy next year.”
At that point, Howard was still strongly considering the NFL draft. He eventually decided to transfer to Ohio State, where he won the starting job and has thrived under new coordinator Chip Kelly.
“Will Howard and I have a really good relationship and we’ve always been honest with each other, and he knew that that’s what we had to do,” Klieman said. “[He knew we could] have a kid for three to four more years, or you can have a kid for a semester more, which was all Will was going to have. We really thought Will was going to go [to the NFL] anyway, and it really worked out well for both guys.”
Johnson had his first true career start against NC State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, leading Kansas State to a 28-19 win. (He technically started in the regular season against TCU, as the Wildcats began the game with two quarterbacks on the field.)
The win marked the debut of offensive coordinator Connor Riley as Kansas State’s playcaller in place of Klein, continuing with his promotion to offensive coordinator and playcaller this season. (Kansas State brought in veteran coach Matt Wells as the quarterbacks coach and co-coordinator.)
The victory showcased Johnson’s arm, as he threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns. He also scampered for 71 yards and directed a game-sealing fourth-quarter touchdown drive.
“It was a bittersweet moment for me because I finally get to have my first start, and I’m obviously happy for [Howard] because he gets to go out and play at a great college like Ohio State and gets to showcase his ability,” Johnson said. “But it’s like the part where I hurt the most is Will was actually a really good friend of mine, a really good person, and he deserves a lot of the credit for how advanced I was mentally.”
So what can Johnson become as Kansas State’s quarterback?
It’s a fascinating question, as he has been solid but not spectacular so far this season. Johnson has completed 65.9% of his passes, including four touchdowns with one interception. He has 334 passing yards through two games. He also showed poise on the road in engineering the comeback against Tulane.
Johnson hasn’t needed to run the ball a ton, as Kansas State has shown flashes of having one of the best running back tandems in the country — returning star DJ Giddens has 238 yards rushing and is averaging 7.4 yards per carry. Dylan Edwards, a Colorado transfer who is Johnson’s buddy from the Wichita area, has averaged an astounding 10.8 yards on his nine carries. He has also scored two rushing touchdowns and added another one receiving.
That has left Johnson with only 11 carries, something that’s good for his long-term durability. He’s 6-foot-2 and 192 pounds, which means he still needs to add some bulk to his frame.
The key area for growth for Johnson and Kansas State against Arizona will be on third down, as the Wildcats rank No. 113 in the country with just a 30% conversion rate. They’ve converted only 6-of-20, which has limited the play count and the ability to find rhythm.
“The thing that I want to make sure that the country knows after this year is that Avery Johnson’s not a running quarterback,” Klieman said. “Avery Johnson is a kid that can spin it all over the place, and if he needs to run, he will, but I don’t want to run him 20 times a game.”
Friday’s game offers a fascinating showdown, as Arizona brings in perhaps the country’s most dazzling quarterback-receiver duo in Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan.
It offers the showcase Johnson always wanted for Kansas State, the program shining in a national spotlight and his home state the center of college football universe for a night. (Kansas also hosts a dangerous UNLV team in the same time slot.)
Johnson and Kansas State take center stage, with all the lofty goals Johnson wanted for the program in front of him. Everyone will be watching, and it’ll be up to Johnson and the Wildcats to make sure that’s a good thing.