K-State's Avery Johnson Shows Continued Growth in Spring Practice
"Phase Two" of the offseason continues to roll at Kansas State.
Avery Johnson is preparing for his third season in the Kansas State backfield, and his second season as the full-time starter for the Wildcats.
Matt Wells enters his first season as being the sole offensive coordinator after serving as co-offensive coordinator with Conor Riley. Well's reflected on Johnson's growth this offseason in his press conference yesterday.
"The more Avery grows, and learns and develops the more we do," Wells said. "I've been so proud of him for the last four months. He has grown his leadership, his maturity, in his knowledge, football knowledge, specific knowledge of this system, and maybe even some new things and maybe old things and all of that combined, but he's been awesome for the last few months."
Wells said that Johnson now weighs 200 pounds, and believes that the added weight helped him.
"He's gotten bigger he's gotten faster, he has, he's literally gotten faster," Wells said. "He's holding it well, and I think he'll gain some more over the summer and start camp, you know, the heaviest he's been but he'll also start camp the fastest that he's been too."
Johnson has had strong rushing seasons in both of his seasons at Kansas State. As a freshman he had 52 carries for 296 yards and seven touchdowns. Last season, Johnson carried the ball 113 times picking up 605 yards and found the end zone seven times. A faster, stronger Johnson could be a problem for defenses across the nation.
Seth Kunz is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at sethkunz988@gmail.com
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Seth is a journalism student at the University of Missouri. He is a big follower of Big 12 athletics, especially football and basketball. He is also part of the student-run radio station, KCOU 88.1 FM. He is a native of Williamsville, Ill.
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