Kansas State is betting that Collin Klein can do for Avery Johnson what he helped do for Marcel Reed at Texas A&M.
Klein arrives in Manhattan after two seasons running the Aggies offense, and the appeal is obvious. Reed flourished in that system, putting together one of the top seasons in college football as Texas A&M finished 11-2 and reached the College Football Playoffs. Reed’s numbers tell the story: 3,169 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and a 62 percent completion rate.
Now Klein is trying to engineer a similar jump with Johnson, a quarterback he already knew well. Klein recruited Johnson to Manhattan when he was still the Wildcats offensive coordinator, and Johnson showed flashes right away. In 2023, he made two starts in relief of Will Howard and became just the fifth freshman to start for Kansas State, joining James Mack (1975), Duane Howard (1976), Josh Freeman (2006) and Will Howard (2020).
Johnson followed that with a strong sophomore season that looked like the start of something bigger. He finished with 2,712 passing yards, a school-record 25 touchdown passes, a 58 percent completion rate, plus 605 rushing yards and seven scores on the ground.
But the expected leap never came in his junior year. Johnson’s production dipped, inconsistency crept in, and Kansas State slid to a 6-6 finish after entering the season with high expectations.
That’s the challenge in front of Klein now: get Johnson back to the version of himself that looked ready to take off. The Wildcats will get their first chance to show it when they open the season Sept. 5 against Nicholls at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
In Other News...
Kansas State Quietly Added A Proven Corner With Something To Prove
Kansas States secondary got a quiet but meaningful addition in Kaleb Patterson, a transfer cornerback who arrives with real experience after stops at Illinois and Pearl River Community College. He is projected to step into a primary backup role, and the appeal is obvious for a defense that values corners who can hold up physically and make plays when the ball comes their way.
Patterson has built a reputation as a steady defender, with coaches and analysts pointing to his consistency, toughness and tackling as the traits that travel best. For Kansas State, that kind of profile matters because depth in the defensive backfield can become a difference-maker fast, and Patterson now gets a chance to show he can turn that track record into production in a new setting. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas State Is Getting Real Big 12 Respect Under Collin Klein
BetMGMs early numbers for the 2026 season suggest Kansas State has earned a place near the front of the Big 12 conversation, a notable sign of how the market sees Collin Kleins program heading into another fall. The Wildcats are being treated as a legitimate factor in the league race, with quarterback Avery Johnson also showing up on the board in the Heisman market as the offseason picture starts to take shape.
The broader outlook is even more revealing when stacked against the long game, where Kansas State sits at longshot territory for the 2027 College Football Playoff title. Betting markets are only projections, of course, but they do offer a snapshot of expectation, and right now the Wildcats are being viewed as a team with enough talent and stability to stay in the Big 12 hunt if the pieces continue to come together. [Read more 🡒]