Staying Hungry

By: D. Scott Fritchen

The instant Avery Johnson lofted the ball high into the air, everybody in Ireland hushed, and you know what the 47,000 people inside Aviva Stadium were thinking: "Oh my gosh. He's going to score." Jerand Bradley, all 6-foot-5, 223 pounds of him, a guy who runs a 4.50, a guy who has soft hands from years of football and basketball, snatched the football from the sky, and he ran, and that was it. Bingo. Sixty-five yards to the house.

There were 6 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter when Johnson lined up in shotgun with two wide receivers to the left side and with Bradley lined up far to the sideline. After a play-action fake to running back Joe Jackson, Johnson rolled to his left and watched Bradley for a second, and a second was all it took before Johnson threw the pass over the Iowa State defense. Bradley caught the ball at the 35-yard line and had five steps on an Iowa State defender. Bradley turned up field. He outraced three defenders into the end zone. That pulled K-State to within 24-21. And Bradley jumped and twirled in the air in excitement. And he was mobbed by his K-State teammates. At the moment, there was no better feeling. None.

"I prayed for a time like this," Bradley says.

Bradley, a senior, towers above everybody when he enters the team meeting room on the third floor of the Vanier Family Football Complex on Monday. What do you notice first? That big, wide smile. He smiles the whole time. He smiles for an eight-minute interview. Constant smile. And he smiles in recounting his first touchdown at K-State — that 65-yarder that seemingly came out of nowhere in Ireland.

"Every time, with my size, I have the advantage," Bradley says. "Just put the ball somewhere and I'll get it."

This was what Bradley dreamed of for so long. There's a story, all right. A journey. And there's a uniqueness to Bradley's path to the Little Apple.

Bradley was a 16-year-old junior at John Paul II High School in Plano, Texas, the first time he met Matt Wells. Something about Bradley caught the eye of Wells, who at the time was the Texas Tech head coach, and who saw Bradley, with his unique size, play football. Bradley had sticky hands that caught long balls out of the Texas skies. Bradley and Wells hit it off. Bradley loved Wells' energy. Bradley loved Wells' passion. But more than anything, Bradley loved how Wells seemed to show him love.

Bradley finished his high school career at DeSoto High School in Dallas as a finalist for High School All-America honors by Sports Illustrated after catching 57 passes for 784 yards and eight touchdowns.

He received 25 scholarship offers and chose Texas Tech.

On January 16, 2025, Bradley packed up his things back home in Frisco, Texas, and was reunited with Wells, who serves as associate head coach/offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at K-State. Wells coached Bradley his freshman season at Texas Tech in 2021.

When Bradley arrived at the Vanier Family Football Stadium, he shared a warm embrace with Wells.

"His smile hasn't changed," Wells said soon after Bradley's arrival in Manhattan. "He has a great smile and a great demeanor, mom and dad, he was raised the right way. He has really soft hands and very natural ball skills. He's gotten bigger and stronger. His want to win and want to have a really, really good individual season and his edge to him has grown over the last couple years. I think you get that with a transfer.

"You need to have that as a transfer, an edge to you and a reason why you're leaving a good program. JB has that. But you can have that selfish individual goal within a team concept and atmosphere and he does that. He's a great teammate and I appreciate that about him. He's always willing to go the extra mile and work hard. Those things haven't changed with him."

It's Frisco where it all began. Bradley's father, Brandon, was a college football player at South Western Oklahoma, and he instilled the virtue of hard work into his son at a young age. Basketball was Bradley's first love, and he could dunk at age 14. Football was his father's passion, and he told his son that a 6-foot-5 basketball player was no big deal, but a 6-foot-5 football player was something to behold. Bradley listened. He played junior varsity football and varsity basketball his freshman year at Frisco Lone Star High School.

What happened next? Well, here's what happened next: He had 45 catches for 866 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore to earn TAPPS Division I Offensive Newcomer of the Year. As a junior, he had 96 catches for 1,522 yards and 21 touchdowns while leading John Paul II High School to the state title game. He transferred to DeSoto High his senior year and had 57 catches for 784 yards and eight touchdowns and was selected to play in the 2021 Under Armour All-America game.

Then came decision time.

And Bradley wasn't going any place other than Texas Tech — to be with Wells.

Bradley's impact was immediate and vicious. After catching five passes for 99 yards as a redshirt freshman at Texas Tech, Bradley exploded with 51 catches for a team-high 744 yards and six touchdowns in 2022. He ranked third among FBS freshmen in receiving yards and his 180 receiving yards against Oklahoma marked the most by an FBS freshman on the season and the most by a Red Raider freshman since Michael Crabtree had 95 at Texas on November 10, 2007. He earned second team Freshman All-American by The Athletic.

As a sophomore, without Wells on the sideline, he was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team, and he was named to the Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list, yet he finished with 36 catches for 431 yards and four touchdowns.

Bradley opted to transfer to Boston College last season to play under first-year head coach Bill O'Brien and wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt. He had six catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns in nine games.

That settled it. He had to find Wells. And Wells was now at K-State and a part of a coaching staff that in 2024 produced one of the top 10 offensive seasons in K-State history.

"Just being with Coach Wells is a huge honor," Bradley says. "I'm just blessed to be here, honestly. It's amazing to be with him for my last college season. He talks about being better, blocking, and always finding new ways to get better and to not get comfortable and continuing to stay hungry, just like when I was a freshman at Texas Tech, just continuing to stay hungry and never being satisfied."

Bradley has eight catches for 121 yards and one touchdown in his first two games at K-State. He leads the Wildcats in averaging 15.13 yards per reception. He joins Kansas' Emmanuel Henderson Jr., and Iowa State's Brett Eskidsen as the only Big 12 pass catchers to record a reception of longer than 60 yards.

Not bad for a guy who has had to learn four different offensive systems in his career.

"He's ecstatic that he came here with the guy who recruited him in Coach Wells, who can hold him accountable and challenge the heck out of him, and he likes it, because there's a lot in Jerand," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says. "He's a terrific football player, and we're just seeing the start of that. He practices his tail off and plays hard and has learned about Avery and our offense."

Bradley has goals for his final college season. His main goal? He wants to chase himself. He wants to beat what he achieved as a redshirt freshman under Wells at Texas Tech when he blossomed into one of the top wide receivers in the country. Yeah, those were good days. Those were good times. He wants to get back to those times. Looking at the past, he hopes to explode going forward.

"I want to be better than I was my breakout season, topping that season in yards, touchdowns, and just continue to grow," Bradley says. "I've learned it's still in me. I'm hungrier than I was during my breakout season, and I'm super excited to put it on display. I feel like I'm way better than I was during my breakout season."

At least 10 games left to go for Bradley and the Wildcats. Bradley continues to smile bright. He hopes to help keep the Wildcats smiling all season.

"He lights up a room," Klieman says. "He's already had an impact, and the impact is going to continue to grow."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jerand Bradley

Joe Jackson

Avery Johnson

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