By: D. Scott Fritchen
Speaking to reporters on Monday following his first training camp with Kansas State, Matt Wells lauded the overall team depth of the Wildcats while stating that K-State "is a very, very high-football IQ program starting at the top with Chris Klieman."
"When you watch us on tape, it's like, 'Dang, they do a lot of stuff,'" Wells said. "The reality is we really do, on both sides of the ball."
Wells arrived at K-State in January as associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after spending the previous two years as offensive analyst and advisor to Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables. The former Texas Tech head coach lamented earlier this summer that his teams (first with Texas Tech, and then with Oklahoma) were never able to defeat the Wildcats.
Some might suggest Klieman in his sixth season has assembled his most talented team yet.
The Wildcats are No. 18 in the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll, picked second in the Preseason Big 12 poll, have been in the conversation for a spot in the College Football Playoff, and return six players on offense and eight on defense from a squad that went 9-4 capped by a victory in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
"I think we have a lot of depth," Wells said. "I think we're pretty veteran on defense and really savvy in the secondary. Offensively, we've got weapons, whether it's out at receiver, I think the tight ends room is deep, we have some talented running backs, and K-State has always had a really good offensive line, and I don't see this year being any different.
"I see a team that has really good depth compared to some Big 12 teams that I've been around in the last five years, and we've got some good areas of competitive depth and some competitive battles that are important for each guy to kind of raise his level and continue to improve because of that depth."
Although Wells discussed depth and revealed that he will be on the sideline and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Conor Riley will be in the booth at games, a portion of Wells' news conference centered on 6-foot-2, 192-pound sophom*ore quarterback Avery Johnson, who will be the full-time starting quarterback as the Wildcats begin their season against UT Martin on August 31 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
K-State fans and coaches saw ample promise in Johnson during last season as he played behind senior Will Howard.
Now the 19-year-old Johnson, a native of Wichita, Kansas, possesses the keys to the offense.
Wells, in so many words, is ready to ride.
"He's got that 'it' factor, and I see it every day," Wells said. "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."
As for exactly how Johnson, a noted dual-threat passer, showed his most growth during 21 practices in training camp, Wells replied, "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."
When he breaks out with the football in his hands — watch out.
"He is electric with the ball in his hands," Wells said. "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."
K-State did not have practice on Monday in observance of the first day of fall classes, but Wells said that Johnson and the other quarterbacks have kept busy.
"We probably meet three times a day or have been in that mode, an hour and a half to two hours each time, so whether it's going through scripts or practice video or now some opponent video, myself, I'm in there, Coach Klieman is in there, and it's just the different facets of a meeting," Wells said. "You don't just watch the same thing for two hours. That's kind of what those meetings consist of."
Wells was non-committal on naming a backup quarterback as senior transfer Ta'Quan Roberson and sophom*ore Jacob Knuth battle behind Johnson.
"Those two guys continue to get better," Wells said. "It's been healthy, it's been great. The biggest thing for them is to be the best version of themselves. It isn't a competition per se against the other guy, it's 'How can I be better today?' and stack great days on top of each other."
Same goes for the wide receiver positions. Asked which wide receivers impressed more than others, Wells replied, "We have a really good group there. Keagan Johnson and Dante Cephas and Jayce Brown, and then Jadon Jackson, Tre Spivey, and Sterling Lockett has had a really, really good camp. He continues to impress. He's playing fast. He's playing really fast. We'll play a lot of those guys. That's healthy and keeps them fresher and helps inspire during the week when you're installing things. We're not just going to play two and three (wide receivers) all year. You'll see us play a lot."
Although everyone in the Big 12 is aware of DJ Giddens, who is nearing 2,000 career rushing yards, the Wildcats acquired an X factor this summer with the addition of 5-foot-9, 165-pound running back Dylan Edwards from Colorado.
How might Edwards fit into the Wildcats' plans?
"It's not really hard," Wells said. "He fits in everywhere. It's been fun. He's not really hard to gameplan for. It's moving him around, and he can do a lot of stuff with the ball in his hands whether it's return game in special teams, he's a very natural receiver with great hands and he's a high football IQ guy, too.
"We do a lot of stuff with him, and he's picked it up really well in a short amount of time getting here this summer. He'll be a fun one to coach and to game plan for."
After a string of success, this year offers an opportunity for the Wildcats to take another step.
The Wildcats averaged 34.6 points per game over the last two seasons to rank 19th in the nation and third among returning Big 12 teams. The Wildcats have averaged at least 32 points per game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2016 and 2017, while they have eclipsed an average of 200 rushing yards per game in consecutive seasons for the first time since doing so for three-straight years from 2001 and 2003.
Defensively, K-State has allowed 21.3 points per game over the last three seasons, which ranks 20th nationally and second in the Big 12. K-State has allowed fewer than 22 points per game each of the last three seasons, the first time doing so since 1991 through 2003.
"We do a ton of stuff on offense and defense," Wells said. "The challenge for us as coaches is how do we simplify and keep it simple for players, so young players can play and play fast but yet we're really complicated and can cover up alignments and this and that. We are multi-dimensional on both sides of the ball. It makes a unique combination in trying to be really sophisticated on both sides to learn and play fast."
