Inside The Huskies

Huskies Offer Kansas QB Who Does It All

Avery Johnson is a dual-threat player with trademark long hair.
Dan Raley|
Huskies Offer Kansas QB Who Does It All
Huskies Offer Kansas QB Who Does It All

The woman conducting the TV interview with Avery Johnson asks him all sorts football questions before signing off with the following observation and a laugh, "Still, the best hair in the state of Kansas."

Which was quite a compliment for this young Wichita quarterback, considering that the female broadcaster's blond hair stretched almost to her waist.

Yet Johnson, with his own blond locks as long or longer than Asa Turner's, is much more than a fashion plate, becoming somewhat of a sporting folk hero if not outright rock star across the flatlands of America. 

The 6-foot-3, 170-pound Johnson was an all-state selection in all three major sports at Maize High School — as a sophomore.

Last March, the then 10th-grader led the Eagles basketball team to a 5A state championship a year ago, topping it in scoring with a 13.2 average.

This past fall, Johnson put Maize in the state title game for football for the first time school history and was named 5A Player of the Year. He threw for 2,550 yards and 20 touchdowns and ran for 1,080 yards and 22 scores. 

Having seen enough, Kalen DeBoer's University of Washington recruiters this week extended Johnson a scholarship offer, giving him 23 overall. 

For a game against unbeaten the 6A Derby High Panthers, students for the other school paid homage to Johnson's long hair by showing up wearing long, blonde wigs to get everyone's attention.

The quarterback ended up running for four touchdowns in that game but his team lost a 42-41 thriller when his late two-point conversion pass failed.

Johnson's football team finished the season with an 11-3 record after losing the championship game 28-14 to three-defending titleist Mill Valley.

Johnson, with his long flowing hair and elite athleticism, is so popular around Wichita adults and little kids alike seek him out at all times. 

Even with schools such as Notre Dame, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Wisconsin and Tennessee pursuing him, he remains approachable and humble.

In those nonstop TV interviews in the heartland, he deflects the praise and talks about doing better even after accomplishing so much already.

“Definitely, I mean there’s always improvement,” Johnson told one interviewer. “And I think my main goal last year was to win a state championship and we came up just short last in the state championship game."

The dual-threat quarterback was a magician all season in getting out of trouble and a putting the ball on someone's hands in heavy traffic. 

Johnson just smiles when someone brings up his trademark hair and comments on it.

For example, two guys hosting a Kansas TV football show provided the following postgame banter about the quarterback and his look.

"He's better with the long hair," one said.

"I think it makes him faster," said the other.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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