Goal No. 2: UNSELFISHNESS. There is no “I” in TEAM.
#2 Avery Johnson
True Junior | 6-3 | 196 lbs. | Wichita, Kansas
- Position: Quarterback
- Previous College: None
- Projection: Starter
- Status: On Scholarship
Avery “Sunshine” Johnson (b. Nov. 2, 2004) is K-State’s very highly regarded dual-threat starting quarterback who is majoring in business administration and did not redshirt.
Johnson enters his junior campaign in 2025 already ranked sixth in school history in career passing efficiency (137.2), ranked ninth in passing yards per game (152.0), tied for ninth in passing touchdowns (30) and tied for 10th in touchdown responsibility (44).
He sits just 186
yards shy of entering the school’s top-10 list for career rushing yards by a quarterback.
Johnson also is 115 completions, 190 pass attempts and 1,451 passing yards away from K-State’s top-10 lists for each of those career categories, while he needs 1,027 total offensive yards to crack the top 10.
He has 10 career victories as a starting quarterback, tied for 10th among K-State signal callers since 1990, while his 71.4% winning clip ranks seventh (with a minimum of 10 starts).
Johnson arrived on campus in 2023 as a mid-year enrollee and participated in spring camp.
He entered the year in a three-way battle to be Will Howard’s backup but ended the up-and-down season having basically supplanted Howard, who elected to transfer to Ohio State and go win a national championship there.
Johnson saw playing time as a freshman in eight games with two starts — one against TCU as one of two quarterbacks on the field to begin the game and his first true career start as lone quarterback in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against NC State, a game in which he was named Most Valuable Player.
He threw for 479 yards on the season with five touchdowns and no interceptions on 37-of-66 aim, while he rushed for 296 yards and seven touchdowns on 52 carries as he earned votes for the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year award.
Johnson’s seven rushing touchdowns were the second most by a freshman in school history and tied for the most by a true freshman with Deuce Vaughn (2020).
He also tied for second in rushing touchdowns among all true freshmen nationally in 2023, while he had the most among true freshmen quarterbacks.
Johnson was just the fifth true freshman starting quarterback in school history, joining James Mack (1975), Duane Howard (1976), Josh Freeman (2006) and Will Howard (2020), while he was the second to start a bowl game (Freeman, 2006 Texas Bowl).
He most notably led K-State to a victory in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, becoming the first true freshman starting quarterback to earn a bowl victory at Kansas State.
Johnson was one of three true freshman quarterbacks to start a win and bowl game in 2023, along with Duke’s Grayson Loftis and Tennessee’s (now UCLA’s) Nico Iamaleava.
He threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns on 14-of-31 aim, while he added 71 rushing yards and a touchdown on seven carries in the bowl victory; his two passing touchdowns tied for sixth in K-State bowl history.
Johnson also led K-State to a 38-21 victory at Texas Tech as he came off the bench to record five rushing touchdowns, tied for the most in school history for a single game with Collin Klein (2011 in overtime vs. Texas A&M) and Jonathan Beasley (2000 vs. North Texas).
This party featured the most rushing touchdowns by any true freshman since Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine also had five against Kansas in 2014, while it was the most by a true freshman quarterback since at least 1995 and the most ever by a Big 12 true freshman quarterback.
He was one of only three players in the nation during the 2023 season with at least five rushing touchdowns in a game, and his 30 points scored and five touchdowns scored at Texas Tech also tied school records in each of those respective categories.
Johnson rushed for 90 yards against Texas Tech, one of three games in which he had 70 or more rushing yards (73 vs. TCU, 71 vs. NC State).
He also threw for 77 yards on 8-of-9 aim against the Red Raiders, rushed for a touchdown against Southeast Missouri State, and threw touchdown passes against TCU, Houston and Baylor.
Johnson entered 2024 on the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award, along with his “turnt” backfield mate, starting running back DJ Giddens.
His position coach, former offensive coordinator Collin Klein, said of his young protégé:
It’s pretty amazing to watch a true freshman work has hard as he has to put himself into a position to truly run the offense and compete. He’s done a tremendous job with that. He hasn’t been overwhelmed and has really done some nice things throwing and running the football, so we’re really excited about him.
No less was the encouraging hype from head coach Chris Klieman for the star of his class:
Avery is doing some really, really good things. He plays the game so fast. He knows he’s still learning what we’re doing schematically. He’s learning a lot from Will Howard and Jake, but the one thing, when the ball is snapped, every play is really, really fast.
As he continues to learn our system and the defensive side of things slows down for him, we’re going to continue to see quantum leaps from him. Make no mistake, when he tucks it away and runs, it’s a different speed out there.
Now his new quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator Matt Wells, has weighed in:
He’s got that “it” factor, and I see it every day. He’s a very natural leader. He’s a very natural starting quarterback. I think that comes easy to him, to be honest with you.
When you talk about physically, he’s done a good job with his pocket movement. It’s been something that’s been big for us to move in the pocket. You don’t just stand there and stand still. It’s not 7-on-7 — that’s why I hate that drill — but moving and staying in a position to be able to throw the ball quickly and getting his cleats into the grass, that’s one of the things we’ve focused on.
Mentally, it’s seeing so many looks and being able to progress through a read and process everything really, really fast. I’ve seen improvement in that area.
He is electric with the ball in his hands. He’s uber-talented out in space. He’s throwing the ball well. For Avery, it’s been important to get a multitude of looks, and we get that daily with pressure to drop eight and all the things that he needs to see. That’s challenging him and certainly there’s going to be the season challenge that goes from game to game and week to week from different structures. There’s going to be a soreness factor. There’s going to be just the grind of the season that he’s going to go through as a starter for the first time.
I’m proud of him. I’m excited to coach him. He’ll have a really good year.
More simply put was the way assistant head coach Van Malone said it late last summer:
You don’t have to say anything, you just watch the film.
Well, after a full season as the starting quarterback, everyone has seen the film now. And while it was something of a mixed bag at times, the potential definitely flashed multiple times for all to see the greatness yet to come.
Johnson started every game in 2024, throwing for 2,712 yards and a school-record 25 touchdowns on 217-of-372 (58.3%) aim while adding in 605 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 113 carries.
He finished fourth in school history in pass attempts, fifth in completions and passing yards, sixth in total offensive yards (3,317), and sixth in touchdown responsibility (32), while he also ranked second in school history in passing yards by a sophomore.
Johnson led the Wildcats to a school-record 6.57 yards per play, while they set a new school record with 6.08 rushing yards per carry — more than 0.8 yards per carry better than the previous record (5.27 in 2016).
He guided an offense that also ranked fourth in school history in offensive yards per game (426.8), fifth in total offensive yards (5,549), sixth in total rushing yards (2,801), seventh in completions (222) and 10th in passing yards (2,748).
Johnson tied the school record by engineering four comeback victories when trailing in the fourth quarter in games against Tulane, at Colorado, versus Kansas and against Rutgers, the latter coming in the Rate Bowl.
He led K-State to a 17-point comeback win over the Scarlet Knights, the largest bowl deficit ever overcome for a victory in school history, as he threw for three touchdowns in the Rate Bowl, tied for the third-most touchdown passes in school bowl history.
Johnson ranked 17th nationally and third in the Big 12 Conference in points responsible for (196), 20th in the country and fifth in the Big 12 in touchdown passes, and 43rd nationally and 10th in the Big 12 in total offense per game (225.2), while he was 44th nationally and seventh in the Big 12 in passing yards per completion.
He also ranked seventh in the Big 12 in pass attempts, eighth in completions, ninth in both passing efficiency (136.37) and passing yards per attempt (7.29), and 10th in total passing yards.
One of only five players in the nation — and one of just three from a Power 4 school (alongside Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Arkansas’ Taylen Green) — to record 2,700 passing yards and 600 rushing yards, Johnson teamed with Dylan Edwards (7.4-yard average) and DJ Giddens (6.6-yard average) to make K-State the only Power 4 team in the country to have three players average at least 5.4 yards per rush (on a minimum of 70 carries).
One of nine quarterbacks in the nation with at least 25 passing touchdowns and seven rushing touchdowns, including one of five Power 4 signal callers, Johnson tallied six completions of at least 50 yards to tie for 10th nationally and second in the Big 12.
He had at least one completion of 50 or more yards in three straight games against Oklahoma State, Colorado and West Virginia, becoming the first Wildcat with such a three-game streak since Skylar Thompson in 2021 (Stanford, Southern Illinois, Oklahoma) and the first to do so in Big 12 play since at least 1999.
Johnson threw for at least 250 yards in each of the Oklahoma State, Colorado, West Virginia and Kansas contests — the longest streak by a Wildcat against conference foes since Jake Waters did the same during the final four Big 12 games in 2014.
He set a career high with 320 offensive yards against Kansas, which came on the heels of a then-career-high 298 passing yards at West Virginia.
Johnson posted a career-best passing efficiency rating of 186 at West Virginia, which was the highest by a Wildcat (on a minimum of 25 attempts) since Skylar Thompson against LSU in the 2021 Texas Bowl (188.1) and the highest by a Wildcat in a road game since Thompson at Oklahoma in 2020 (197.4).
He threw the game-winning 50-yard touchdown pass at Colorado with 2:14 left in the game and had three passing touchdowns and two rushing scores against Oklahoma State, becoming the first Wildcat to hit those marks against a conference opponent since Collin Klein at West Virginia in 2012.
It was only the 30th time since 1996 that a player had at least three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns against a team ranked in the AP Top 25 as Johnson went on to earn Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, Manning Award Star of the Week and Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 List honors.
He also was named to the Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 List after rushing for a career-high 110 yards against Arizona, the most rushing yards by a K-State quarterback since Will Howard had 125 yards against Oklahoma State in 2020.
Johnson set a career high for completions (24) and attempts (40) against Arizona State, and threw a career-long pass of 65 yards at Iowa State.
He was named to the preseason watch lists for the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards; earned Academic All-District honors from College Sports Communicators, in addition to being an Academic All-Big 12 performer; and was voted a team captain, a feat he replicated this summer for the second straight season.
Johnson once again has been named to the preseason watch lists for the Maxwell (with Edwards) and Davey O’Brien awards, as well as the Manning and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards.
A Wichita native, Johnson prepped under head coach Gary Guzman at Maize High School, where he was rated the 77th-best player overall in the Class of 2023 by ESPN, while Rivals ranked him as the top dual-threat quarterback in the class.
He also was rated No. 85 overall and No. 9 among quarterbacks by 247Sports and was listed as the top player in the state of Kansas for the Class of 2023 by 247Sports, ESPN, and On3.
Johnson competed in the Elite 11 Finals in the summer of 2022 and was K-State’s first Elite 11 quarterback since Josh Freeman way back in 2005. He was selected to play in the U.S. Army Bowl in Frisco, Texas, in addition to the Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando, Florida.
Johnson also was named the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and the MaxPreps Kansas Player of the Year in 2022, and selected as the 2022 Wichita Eagle Offensive Player of the Year in the state of Kansas, while the publication named him to its Top 11 team and as a first-team all-state performer.
He also was named a Top 11 player and first-team all-state performer in 2022 by Sports in Kansas and KHSHAA Covered. He also won the Barry Sanders Award for greater Wichita.
Johnson threw for 2,768 yards and 29 touchdowns with just three interceptions on 153-of-228 aim as a senior, in addition to running for 817 yards and 15 scores on 98 carries, leading the Eagles to a 12-1 record and a sub-state championship in 2022.
He was named the league’s offensive Most Valuable Player as a senior, as well as a first-team all-state performer as a junior from Sports in Kansas and The Wichita Eagle. The latter publication also named him one of the top 11 players in the state in 2021.
Johnson is an elite all-around athlete with vision, accuracy, and speed who also competed in basketball and baseball. Don’t believe me? Just watch his film or listen to Howard’s praise:
To see some of the progression that he’s made from this spring to this fall is astronomical. He gets it. He’s understanding the game and wants to understand the game more and understand our offense. He’s an incredible athlete, so he makes some crazy plays and crazy throws. He’s about as athletic as they come.
Anytime that dude scrambles, I’m telling Coach Klieman that’s a touchdown right there, nobody is touching him. He’s been very impressive. For the future of K-State football, you’re going to be in good hands.
Asked specifically about how Johnson is “different” than a year ago, Wells replied recently:
It’s like, “I don’t need to be this certain type of player and listen to the media or when someone asks me about being a certain prototypical ‘blank’ type of quarterback. I’m good when I run. I’m good when I throw it.” He’s further along in coverage recognition, in his ability to dissect a defense a little quicker, and that takes times, live reps and a lot of looks. Certainly, with all the safeties that Joe Klanderman plays in the back end that can be a challenge for us in training camp, and it’s a good look knowing who our first opponent is.
Johnson selected K-State over an impressive set of offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Kansas, Memphis, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pittsburgh, TCU, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington, Washington State and Wisconsin, plus strong interest from LSU.
