Avery Johnson is still carrying the memory of Kansas State’s trip to Ireland, and not in a good way.
The senior quarterback from Wichita didn’t try to dress it up. After the Wildcats opened last season with a Week 0 game against Iowa State in Dublin, Johnson came away with a clear verdict: “I would never willingly want to do that again,” Johnson said. “I think it was just tough.”
That experience, he said, turned the start of the season into something far heavier than a normal opener. Instead of a clean ramp-up, everything felt stretched out and repetitive, from the early camp schedule to the game-prep week before the trip. Johnson said the workload wore on the team mentally.
“When you play Week 0, camp starts earlier, and it feels like camp is a month long,” Johnson said. “Even our game-prep week leading up to our first game, because we didn’t have school, was still treated like camp.
We were here from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. It was just a lot mentally.
“When you go through the same process over and over and over again it can get repetitive, and your brain can turn into mush. Guys can not lock in. You would be in a meeting, but you’re not all the way there.”
The result in Dublin didn’t help. K-State dropped a tight one to Iowa State, 24-21, at Aviva Stadium, and the loss seemed to hang around long after the team came home. The Wildcats stumbled through the next part of the schedule, starting 2-4 before climbing back to finish 6-6.
The season left a mark well beyond the standings. Chris Klieman chose to retire after the grind of that year.
Johnson also pointed to the travel itself as another layer of difficulty. The long trip overseas and the return home brought their own problems, including jet lag that hit him in the middle of the week.
“It was just a lot for us last year to have to go there and come back,” Johnson said. “You have to deal with jet lag.
I got jet-lagged on a Tuesday. Then you’re kind of sleepwalking into your real Week 1 game.”
Now, with new head coach Collin Klein in charge, Johnson is looking at last year’s rough opening as something the Wildcats can use instead of something they can hide behind. K-State opens the 2026 season at home against Nicholls in Week 1, and Johnson said that setup already feels easier to manage.
His bigger message is about how the team responds when things get uncomfortable. Johnson said winning teams don’t lean on unusual circumstances as an excuse, and he wants Kansas State to be ready for whatever comes next.
“If we had to go play in Ireland this year, we’re like, just put the ball down, line it up and let’s go out and play,” Johnson said. “We can’t complain about anything.
We’re going to have to play cold games, hot games, night games, morning games. Whatever it is, the conditions don’t matter.
Where we play doesn’t matter. Let’s go out there and play.
That’s the mindset of this team.”
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