4-star QB Avery Johnson stays home, commits to Kansas State

Four-star passer Avery Johnson is staying home.

Johnson, the No. 1 player in Kansas and the No. 12 quarterback in the country, announced his commitment to Kansas State. Johnson picked the Wildcats over a long list of national suitors, including early offers from Arkansas, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Florida State, Missouri, Tennessee, Nebraska, Auburn and others. In the end, the signal-caller from Maize (Kan.) High School took official visits to Washington, K-State and Oregon before selecting the Wildcats.

Johnson is a significant recruiting victory for Chris Klieman and offensive coordinator Collin Klein. The Wildcats poured all of their recruiting capital into Johnson early on and made him the biggest priority in the Class of 2023.

The Wildcats even got former greats Michael Bishop, Darren Sproles and Terrance Newman to encourage him to pick purple with posts on social media.

@avery2johnson Stay home in Kansas and rock that K State Purple 💪🏾

— Darren Sproles (@DarrenSproles) June 20, 2022

The effort paid off.

And K-State has landed the biggest quarterback recruit since the Wildcats scored Josh Freeman in 2006, Ell Roberson in 1999 and Bishop in 1997.

And as heavily recruited as Freeman, Roberson and Bishop were, this one is different for the Wildcats. Johnson is a Kansas kid – leading Maize to the 5A state championship game in football and state semifinals in basketball – and he has the immediate ability to become the face of the Wildcat program in the future.

Johnson also bucks the trend where many of the Sunflower State’s top players picked out of state programs.

So, to put it mildly, this is about as big as it gets on the recruiting trail for K-State.

What is K-State getting in Avery Johnson?

Avery Johnson’s racked up more than 4,600 passing yards and 45 touchdowns over the past two seasons. He also rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2021 and 32 rushing scores in 2020 and 2021. Many questioned early on whether or not Johnson was just feasting off of Kansas high school talent. Yet, critics quickly changed their tune after he earned an invitation to the Elite 11 Finals in May.

His coach, Gary Guzman, raves about Johnson’s drive to be the best.

“When people ask me, ‘So what weakness do you see in him?’ really the only weakness I see is he tries to do too much,” Guzman told BVM Sports. “He’s always going 100 mph. He plays three sports during the spring. He’d get done with a baseball game late at night on Friday night and he was on the road Saturday morning going to a 7-on-7.

“Anytime that he was in town during the summer he would not miss a workout. He’d be here at 6:30 in the morning just like everybody else. He doesn’t put himself above the rest. He understands that it takes a team to be successful. He’s got some great qualities that make him a very special quarterback for us.”

Charles Power, On3’s Director of Scouting and Rankings, is also a fan of Avery Johnson. Johnson had a strong showing at last week’s Elite 11 quarterback camp.

“Avery Johnson was arguably the best athlete on hand at the Elite 11 Finals,” Power said. “He’s well-established on that front. It’s Johnson’s continual improvement as a passer that has him tabbed as a riser coming out of the Elite 11 Finals. The three-sport star more than held his own in the passing-only setting. Johnson has made marked improvement as a passer by tightening his throwing motion. The ball comes out of his hand differently than it did this time last year. Those improvements have allowed Johnson to unlock some velocity on his passes. The improved passing skill set along with his noted athleticism projects Johnson as a dangerous dual-threat option at the next level.”