How Avery Johnson, QB decision impacts impending Texas matchup

The Kansas State Wildcats currently sit at 5-2 on the year. They’ll have one of their stiffest tests of the 2023 campaign in a few weeks when they line up against the Texas Longhorns.

The Wildcats have won two straight games, including a thorough 41-3 demolishing of the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday. KSU got a solid performance from dual-threat quarterback Avery Johnson in that one. On Sunday evening, Andy Staples and Derek Young of K-Stateonline.com chatted about the Wildcats’ offensive attack and settling on a quarterback.

They kicked things off by discussing the breakout performance of true freshman receiver, Jayce Brown. He played his high school football at Choctawatchee Academy (Fort Walton, Beach). He flew under the radar nationally and was rated as a three-star prospect and the No. 1,464 overall player in the 2023 class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

“Yeah, that was actually to another true freshman that had a breakout game. That was to Jayce Brown. Four catches, 88 yards, a score. And they needed a vertical threat. So, they’re kind of uncovering some pieces there that it’s really unlocked their offense some more. They have a second tight end that’s starting to come on,” Young said.

“And of course, everybody knows about Ben Sinnott. Fans always overreact to a positive and a negative too much. They were ready to burn the house down, so to speak, when they lost to Oklahoma State. But since then, they found a lot of different ways to attack you as an offense,” Young continued.

Since losing to Oklahoma State 29-21, Kansas State has put up 38 and 41 points in their last two games, respectively.

“And there’s a reason why Collin Klein was very much pulled in the Notre Dame direction in the offseason and nearly took that job. He’s thought to be one of the brilliant offensive minds. I thought when they defeated TCU 41-3 a lot of that was him just completely outcoaching, a coaching mismatch with the TCU defensive coordinator, who people lauded last year in Joe Gillespie,” Young explained.

Klein was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2012 and one of the greatest players in college football history. This year is his seventh season coaching the quarterbacks in Manhattan and it’s his second as the offensive coordinator for Kansas State.

Derek Young feels the ceiling is much higher with Avery Johnson

“That was a nice game in between the game. Now, the ceiling potential is certainly higher with Avery Johnson and you wonder if that can kind of maybe even the score a little bit with Texas from a talent standpoint. You certainly would think so,” Young noted.

Johnson is the dual-threat option for the Wildcats, completing 69.6 percent of his passes for 222 yards, while tossing one touchdown pass. As a runner, he’s piled up 227 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.

Young loves Collin Klein’s acumen as a play caller, but he’s quite skeptical of the sustainability of the Wildcats’ usage of two quarterbacks in the future. “But it almost seems before that game, I don’t know if this two-quarterback system is…sustainable. Especially in a tight game where I think you have to pick one guy and go with it,” Young stated.

The other option at quarterback for the Wildcats is Will Howard. Thus far this year, Howard has completed 61.6% of his passes for 1,464 yards, while tossing in 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Coming out of high school, Johnson was one of the highest rated prospects in America. He played his high school football for Maize High School (Maize, Kansas), where he was ranked a four-star prospect and the No. 9 overall quarterback in the country in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

It’ll be interesting to see what decision the Wildcats make in the future on their quarterback situation.

Up next, Kansas State will face off against the Houston Cougars, who gave the Texas Longhorns plenty of problems on Saturday. That game is set for Saturday, Oct. 28th. Kick time is slated for noon EST.