Rapid Recap: Improvement of Kansas State QB Avery Johnson

Continued growth of Avery Johnson

Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson is in his first training camp as Kansas State’s starting quarterback. As just a true sophomore, the signal caller continues to get better. K-State associate head coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Wells complimented Johnson on his hunger and desire to improve. Johnson wants to be challenged and attacks every day.

On the field where the Maize product has shown the most improvement is his pocket movement. Moving up in the pocket is important in the Wildcats offense and he has really improved on his pocket presence. Johnson has also improved from seeing the multiple looks the Kansas State defense gives him every day. With the looks he is getting, he is reading defenses faster and sticking his foot down to deliver the ball on time and on target.

Wells bringing his own tweaks

Wells has been at K-State now since December after coming as Advisor to Head Coach/Offensive Analyst at Oklahoma. He has brought some of his own teaks to the Wildcats offense from his previous stops. Wells revealed most of the tweaks will be in the passing game. He was also quick to praise how well the Kansas State offense has run the last few years.

He still wants the K-State offense to be multiple. The Wildcats will be in 11 personnel, will have formations with multiple tight ends, and multiple running backs, and have some shift, trade, and motion elements. Kansas State will also play with some pace. However, the pace will be more dictated from game to game and not go full tempo every play.

Kansas State wide receiver rundown

Coming into camp it was believed K-State had a deep wide receiver room. Wells echoed that sentiment Monday afternoon. Keagan Johnson, Jayce Brown, Dante Cephas, Sterling Lockett, Tre Spivey and Jadon Jackson were all mentioned as having strong camps. The Wildcats are going to use a lot of players at the wide receiver position this year as well. Wells believes keeping players fresh at wide receiver will play major dividends in October and November.

Backup quarterback competition

The battle at backup quarterback continues to be ongoing. Neither Jacob Knuth or Ta’Quan Roberson have separated themselves just yet. Wells wants them to be the best version of themselves and to not worry about the competition. Both quarterbacks have also gotten lots of reps due to how Kansas State practices. With the dual rep system in place and utilizing two fields, both Knuth and Roberson have had over 400 reps during practices.