‘The Sky’s the Limit’
Jul 10, 2026 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The attention is everywhere as Avery Johnson in his bright suit and lavender tie journeys underneath the lights from radio station to podcast to radio station to podcast, station to station, slapping on headphones and moments peeling them off his head, at Big 12 Football Media Days at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.
One reporter asks, "Is the Avery Johnson hype way over the top?" while another reporter asks, "How can Avery Johnson live up to the hype?"
Those are stirring questions, the kind of thoughts that might rattle through the heads of some fans less than two months before the start of Johnson's senior season at quarterback at Kansas State.
If there is a ceiling, Johnson certainly isn't seeing it.
"The sky's the limit," he says, smiling.
Johnson, of course, is not only talking about his individual potential, but the potential of the Wildcats, who in a span of six months have seemingly built an unshakable identity under the great Collin Klein, arguably the best quarterback in K-State history and now the first-year leader for a program he loves more than any other.
"A Big 12 Championship would be a good cherry on top," Johnson says. "When you count this many wins as a success and this many losses as a failure, you go down a slippery slope like last year. When you don't have the success that you want to early on, you can see your season as a failure, and I don't want a mindset like that.
"That doesn't mean I'm not going out to win every single game and go 12-0 or 13-0 and win a Big 12 Championship. Our goal is to win the Big 12 Championship, but I don't want to put a number on it, too."
A cool confidence seethes throughout the Vanier Family Football Complex along with a contagious energy that crackles and touches every wall and every person who enters the building.
It's K-State football. The New Old School. Family Business.
And Johnson, the native of Wichita, Kansas, who has maintained a long relationship with Klein, heads toward his third season as a team captain, leading the way.
"The past two years as a captain have meant the world to me," Johnson says. "It's an honor to be at K-State and to be able to wear the Powercat. To be a captain and somebody everybody looks up to definitely means a lot to me, because it means I'm doing my job as a leader, and I have people who trust and believe in me."
He has a huge believer in his head coach.
"The experience he's had the last couple years has served him very, very well," Klein says. "Getting back with him this spring, and seeing his maturity, he's so steady and very, very competitive, and he's so stoic but very cerebral. I know on TV sometimes it looks like he's very laid back, but his processor and his processing powers are extremely high. Maximizing that and building our offense around him and his strengths and what allows us to be successful will be the name of the game for him.
"He and I think in the same way as we have in the past and I'm very excited about it."
Here's a thumbnail of what the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Johnson has achieved so far in his 33-game career with the Wildcats: He's tied for the K-State all-time record with 48 touchdown passes, ranks sixth all-time with 5,576 passing yards, fourth among all K-State quarterbacks with 1,378 rushing yards, third all-time in being responsible for 70 touchdowns, and fifth all-time with 6,954 total offensive yards.
Johnson is one of the five fastest players on team, a dual-threat star who is incredibly effective in making big plays, while the biggest hype from a mechanical standpoint surrounds his development as a drop-back passer, improvement in downfield accuracy, and ability to execute play-action passes to complement his ever-present threat of shredding the field with his legs.
Some college football experts project Johnson, one of the marquee players in a Big 12 Conference notoriously stacked with top-tier quarterbacks, as a breakout college football star capable of capturing national attention.
It wasn't too long ago that ESPN college football senior writer Pete Thamel on College Gameday Podcast called Johnson "electric," adding, "He's going to be the face of the sport. He's got like (NFL quarterback) Anthony Richardson electricity, like, he's rare, man."
It was February 2, 2022 — 43 days after Johnson signed his National Letter of Intent with the Wildcats — that one of the highest-rated players ever to sign with K-State met with college reporters for the first time. Johnson, the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year, the No. 1-rated dual-threat passer by Rivals and the 41st-rated overall talent by 247Sports, received 23 total scholarship offers, chose K-State over Oregon and Washington, and signed with K-State during a ceremony at Maize High School on December 21, 2022.
Little could anyone predict that the man who spent three years recruiting Johnson to K-State — Klein — a 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist and quarterbacks coach-turned-offensive coordinator in 2022, would one day leave for two seasons to polish his skills as play-caller in the SEC, and then reunite with Johnson, who Klein today calls "one of the best competitors I've ever been around."
"The first time we met?" Johnson says. "I have no idea. Probably a school visit, but I can't pinpoint a time. My junior year, I started getting phone calls from CK, and we talked ball and I opened up and really got to know CK and his coaching style and his offensive system."
With Klein calling plays at K-State and Texas A&M, his offenses averaged 32.3 points (2022 at K-State), 37.1 (2023 at K-State), 30.4 (2024 at Texas A&M) and 33.8 (2025 at Texas A&M). His offenses also produced 418.8 total yards (2022 at K-State), 445.2 (2023 at K-State), 405.8 (2024 at Texas A&M) and 444.5 (2025 at Texas A&M). Klein's offenses consistently ranked in the top 25 in several statistical categories. In two seasons at K-State, Klein guided two of the 10 best offensive seasons in school history.
Now Klein is back at K-State as head coach and play-caller, and with a seasoned competitor in Johnson to go along with talented wide receivers, proven tight ends and dynamic running backs, the Wildcats' offense figures to go places in the fall.
"I see stuff really well, and I'm able to break down what defenses are doing pre-snap," Johnson says. "I throw and run the ball pretty well. I have everything that a quarterback needs to be successful at this level and the next. It's just going out and being consistent throughout a full season. I have all the confidence in the world in myself and in this team, and we're going to be something scary to go up against in the fall."
Johnson, one of nine Power 4 quarterbacks to throw for at least 18 touchdowns and rush for at least eight last season, was also the first K-State quarterback to throw for 300-plus yards twice in a season since Skylar Thompson in 2021, while he threw for 2,385 yards and 18 touchdowns in addition to rushing for 477 yards and eight scores.
"My base in the pocket, to be able to move in the pocket and keep my base — whenever I have a good base in the pocket I can make every throw on the field," Johnson says. "I've tried to get better in the pocket. I've always done a good job of extending plays and throwing on the run, but getting back to my instincts and taking off when I need to, and keeping my base in the pocket so I can make any throw at any time is what I've improved on the most since the end of last season."
The work for Johnson began months ago — inside the weight room under the direction of director of strength and conditioning Jeremy Jacobs.
"I've put on muscle," Johnson says. "I'm stronger, and I feel better. I got stronger throughout my whole body. I filled out my upper body, my shoulders, my traps and my trunk, and put on weight there and actually held it. I got to around 200 pounds last year, but it was hard to hold it, especially after Ireland, and I dealt with lingering injuries through the year, so I didn't eat as well during the season. I played in the 180s for a majority of the year.
"Right now, I'm sitting a little heavier than 200 pounds and hopefully by the end of July I'm closer to 210 so I can play this season above 200 pounds the whole year. That'll allow me to maintain more contact and take more hits and not feel it was much the next stay. I'm excited to see what I can get to as long as I'm getting faster as I'm getting stronger."
These days, Johnson and Klein watch film and plan for the future together.
"CK is a football mastermind," Johnson says. "He's been doing it a long time as a player and as a coach at the highest level. I see how he processes things, and that'll help me play faster and with a lot less thinking. He can talk about football forever. It's good to have him in the room. You can pick his brain and listen. Listening to him, who knows so much about football, can only make you 10 times better. Being around Coach Klein and having him in the meetings and seeing how he processes and how I should process, I see how we can simplify things so I can play at a faster speed, which only makes me a better quarterback. It's good to talk Xs and Os with him.
"He teaches me where I went wrong, what I can do better and what I can do well. He sees the game from a genius perspective. It's always good to be around a guy who sees the game differently than you and who has so much knowledge and experience so you can take bits and pieces from it."
Which is precisely what Johnson did under Klein during his freshman season at K-State.
"My freshman year, he had me play fully by instinct and if I saw green grass, take it," Johnson says. "If I saw the defense gave up throwing lanes, take advantage of it. He doesn't have me as a robot in any type of way. He lets me play my game, and he calls a great game. I'm excited to be on the good side of that again and see how he calls our games this year."
Time continues to tick toward this official Klein-Johnson reunion against Nicholls in the September 5 season opener at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Think there's some hype? You bet.
Johnson is hyping up himself to deliver his best season yet for the Wildcats.
"It's really a mindset and having that attack mindset each week and playing fearless," Johnson says. "There's no doubt in my mind that I can make any throw on the field and I'm one of the most, if not the most athletic player on the field at any time. Tapping into that and playing fearlessly and laying everything out on the line and treating it like there's no tomorrow will help me play better this year.
"You never know what your story is going to be. If you know what you want and believe in yourself and stay true and really work hard and grind, the sky's the limit."
Johnson, who by the end of his senior season could set many remarkable all-time K-State records, sees no ceiling.
But standing inside the Ford Center at Big 12 Football Media Day, Johnson does see the Big 12 Championship Trophy perched upon a podium.
He'd like for K-State to return to Texas and hoist it on December 4.
The attention is everywhere as Avery Johnson in his bright suit and lavender tie journeys underneath the lights from radio station to podcast to radio station to podcast, station to station, slapping on headphones and moments peeling them off his head, at Big 12 Football Media Days at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.
One reporter asks, "Is the Avery Johnson hype way over the top?" while another reporter asks, "How can Avery Johnson live up to the hype?"
Those are stirring questions, the kind of thoughts that might rattle through the heads of some fans less than two months before the start of Johnson's senior season at quarterback at Kansas State.
If there is a ceiling, Johnson certainly isn't seeing it.
"The sky's the limit," he says, smiling.
Johnson, of course, is not only talking about his individual potential, but the potential of the Wildcats, who in a span of six months have seemingly built an unshakable identity under the great Collin Klein, arguably the best quarterback in K-State history and now the first-year leader for a program he loves more than any other.
"A Big 12 Championship would be a good cherry on top," Johnson says. "When you count this many wins as a success and this many losses as a failure, you go down a slippery slope like last year. When you don't have the success that you want to early on, you can see your season as a failure, and I don't want a mindset like that.
"That doesn't mean I'm not going out to win every single game and go 12-0 or 13-0 and win a Big 12 Championship. Our goal is to win the Big 12 Championship, but I don't want to put a number on it, too."
A cool confidence seethes throughout the Vanier Family Football Complex along with a contagious energy that crackles and touches every wall and every person who enters the building.
It's K-State football. The New Old School. Family Business.
And Johnson, the native of Wichita, Kansas, who has maintained a long relationship with Klein, heads toward his third season as a team captain, leading the way.
"The past two years as a captain have meant the world to me," Johnson says. "It's an honor to be at K-State and to be able to wear the Powercat. To be a captain and somebody everybody looks up to definitely means a lot to me, because it means I'm doing my job as a leader, and I have people who trust and believe in me."
He has a huge believer in his head coach.
"The experience he's had the last couple years has served him very, very well," Klein says. "Getting back with him this spring, and seeing his maturity, he's so steady and very, very competitive, and he's so stoic but very cerebral. I know on TV sometimes it looks like he's very laid back, but his processor and his processing powers are extremely high. Maximizing that and building our offense around him and his strengths and what allows us to be successful will be the name of the game for him.
"He and I think in the same way as we have in the past and I'm very excited about it."
Here's a thumbnail of what the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Johnson has achieved so far in his 33-game career with the Wildcats: He's tied for the K-State all-time record with 48 touchdown passes, ranks sixth all-time with 5,576 passing yards, fourth among all K-State quarterbacks with 1,378 rushing yards, third all-time in being responsible for 70 touchdowns, and fifth all-time with 6,954 total offensive yards.
Johnson is one of the five fastest players on team, a dual-threat star who is incredibly effective in making big plays, while the biggest hype from a mechanical standpoint surrounds his development as a drop-back passer, improvement in downfield accuracy, and ability to execute play-action passes to complement his ever-present threat of shredding the field with his legs.
Some college football experts project Johnson, one of the marquee players in a Big 12 Conference notoriously stacked with top-tier quarterbacks, as a breakout college football star capable of capturing national attention.
It wasn't too long ago that ESPN college football senior writer Pete Thamel on College Gameday Podcast called Johnson "electric," adding, "He's going to be the face of the sport. He's got like (NFL quarterback) Anthony Richardson electricity, like, he's rare, man."
It was February 2, 2022 — 43 days after Johnson signed his National Letter of Intent with the Wildcats — that one of the highest-rated players ever to sign with K-State met with college reporters for the first time. Johnson, the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year, the No. 1-rated dual-threat passer by Rivals and the 41st-rated overall talent by 247Sports, received 23 total scholarship offers, chose K-State over Oregon and Washington, and signed with K-State during a ceremony at Maize High School on December 21, 2022.
Little could anyone predict that the man who spent three years recruiting Johnson to K-State — Klein — a 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist and quarterbacks coach-turned-offensive coordinator in 2022, would one day leave for two seasons to polish his skills as play-caller in the SEC, and then reunite with Johnson, who Klein today calls "one of the best competitors I've ever been around."
"The first time we met?" Johnson says. "I have no idea. Probably a school visit, but I can't pinpoint a time. My junior year, I started getting phone calls from CK, and we talked ball and I opened up and really got to know CK and his coaching style and his offensive system."
With Klein calling plays at K-State and Texas A&M, his offenses averaged 32.3 points (2022 at K-State), 37.1 (2023 at K-State), 30.4 (2024 at Texas A&M) and 33.8 (2025 at Texas A&M). His offenses also produced 418.8 total yards (2022 at K-State), 445.2 (2023 at K-State), 405.8 (2024 at Texas A&M) and 444.5 (2025 at Texas A&M). Klein's offenses consistently ranked in the top 25 in several statistical categories. In two seasons at K-State, Klein guided two of the 10 best offensive seasons in school history.
Now Klein is back at K-State as head coach and play-caller, and with a seasoned competitor in Johnson to go along with talented wide receivers, proven tight ends and dynamic running backs, the Wildcats' offense figures to go places in the fall.
"I see stuff really well, and I'm able to break down what defenses are doing pre-snap," Johnson says. "I throw and run the ball pretty well. I have everything that a quarterback needs to be successful at this level and the next. It's just going out and being consistent throughout a full season. I have all the confidence in the world in myself and in this team, and we're going to be something scary to go up against in the fall."
Johnson, one of nine Power 4 quarterbacks to throw for at least 18 touchdowns and rush for at least eight last season, was also the first K-State quarterback to throw for 300-plus yards twice in a season since Skylar Thompson in 2021, while he threw for 2,385 yards and 18 touchdowns in addition to rushing for 477 yards and eight scores.
"My base in the pocket, to be able to move in the pocket and keep my base — whenever I have a good base in the pocket I can make every throw on the field," Johnson says. "I've tried to get better in the pocket. I've always done a good job of extending plays and throwing on the run, but getting back to my instincts and taking off when I need to, and keeping my base in the pocket so I can make any throw at any time is what I've improved on the most since the end of last season."
The work for Johnson began months ago — inside the weight room under the direction of director of strength and conditioning Jeremy Jacobs.
"I've put on muscle," Johnson says. "I'm stronger, and I feel better. I got stronger throughout my whole body. I filled out my upper body, my shoulders, my traps and my trunk, and put on weight there and actually held it. I got to around 200 pounds last year, but it was hard to hold it, especially after Ireland, and I dealt with lingering injuries through the year, so I didn't eat as well during the season. I played in the 180s for a majority of the year.
"Right now, I'm sitting a little heavier than 200 pounds and hopefully by the end of July I'm closer to 210 so I can play this season above 200 pounds the whole year. That'll allow me to maintain more contact and take more hits and not feel it was much the next stay. I'm excited to see what I can get to as long as I'm getting faster as I'm getting stronger."
These days, Johnson and Klein watch film and plan for the future together.
"CK is a football mastermind," Johnson says. "He's been doing it a long time as a player and as a coach at the highest level. I see how he processes things, and that'll help me play faster and with a lot less thinking. He can talk about football forever. It's good to have him in the room. You can pick his brain and listen. Listening to him, who knows so much about football, can only make you 10 times better. Being around Coach Klein and having him in the meetings and seeing how he processes and how I should process, I see how we can simplify things so I can play at a faster speed, which only makes me a better quarterback. It's good to talk Xs and Os with him.
"He teaches me where I went wrong, what I can do better and what I can do well. He sees the game from a genius perspective. It's always good to be around a guy who sees the game differently than you and who has so much knowledge and experience so you can take bits and pieces from it."
Which is precisely what Johnson did under Klein during his freshman season at K-State.
"My freshman year, he had me play fully by instinct and if I saw green grass, take it," Johnson says. "If I saw the defense gave up throwing lanes, take advantage of it. He doesn't have me as a robot in any type of way. He lets me play my game, and he calls a great game. I'm excited to be on the good side of that again and see how he calls our games this year."
Time continues to tick toward this official Klein-Johnson reunion against Nicholls in the September 5 season opener at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Think there's some hype? You bet.
Johnson is hyping up himself to deliver his best season yet for the Wildcats.
"It's really a mindset and having that attack mindset each week and playing fearless," Johnson says. "There's no doubt in my mind that I can make any throw on the field and I'm one of the most, if not the most athletic player on the field at any time. Tapping into that and playing fearlessly and laying everything out on the line and treating it like there's no tomorrow will help me play better this year.
"You never know what your story is going to be. If you know what you want and believe in yourself and stay true and really work hard and grind, the sky's the limit."
Johnson, who by the end of his senior season could set many remarkable all-time K-State records, sees no ceiling.
But standing inside the Ford Center at Big 12 Football Media Day, Johnson does see the Big 12 Championship Trophy perched upon a podium.
He'd like for K-State to return to Texas and hoist it on December 4.
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