Johnson 'Refreshed' In Move to K-State
May 09, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The news hit the internet faster than a Beyonce album release shortly after noon on December 11 — "Next chapter…#EMAW" the tweet read — as 20-year-old wide receiver Keagan Johnson announced on Twitter his transfer to Kansas State, carrying with it plenty of vim and vigor as the former Iowa pass catcher officially joined head coach Chris Klieman, offensive coordinator Collin Klein and quarterback Will Howard, thus squashing Notre Dame speculation and slamming shut any probability that the native of Bellevue, Nebraska might trot out with the Huskers.
With all the transfer portal hype out there — Travis Hunter enrolled at Colorado, Sam Hartman went to Notre Dame and Fentrell Cypress bolted to Florida State — Johnson-to-K-State didn't necessarily move the needle nationally, but that the 6-foot, 196-pounder found a home with the Big 12 Champions is no small victory for the Wildcats, who went 10-4 with a Sugar Bowl appearance and sit at No. 18 in ESPN's post-spring college football power rankings.
K-State lost Consensus All-American do-everything Deuce Vaughn (Cowboys) and two of their top three wideouts in Malik Knowles (Vikings) and Kade Warner (Buccaneers) to the NFL. Spend a few moments with Howard and one of the top returning passers in the Big 12 Conference surmises big things for Johnson in Manhattan.
"I think Keagan can be one of, if not, the best wide receiver in the Big 12," Howard says. "I really think he has that kind of potential."
Wildcats' fans' expectations are higher than they've been since the 2012 team rolled to a No. 1 ranking in the BCS Standings. That team was led by Klein, the 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist, who will enter his second season as K-State offensive coordinator in the fall. Klein's offense ranked amongst the best in school history in 2022, finishing seventh in total points (452), second in total offense (5,863), fifth in yards per game (418.8), sixth in passing yards (2,947) and fourth in rushing yards (2,916). His diverse offense could be even faster and deadlier this fall. The goal? To average 50 points per game.
"I think 50 is a baseline for Coach Klein, and I mean that 100%," offensive line coach Conor Riley says. "I mean that with all sincerity."
Could Keagan, who showed vast promise at Iowa as a freshman but who missed almost the entire 2022 season due to nagging injuries, be the peanut butter to Howard's jelly? That remains to be seen, but Cade Johnson, Keagan's 25-year-old brother and wideout for the Seattle Seahawks, is close friends with K-State all-time great Tyler Lockett, and Cade sees immense potential for one of the league's more unknown threats heading into the summer.
"When Keagan text me that he was going with the Wildcats, I told Tyler and he was really excited for him," Cade says. "It's a really good fit for Keagan and Manhattan is a good town for him to be in to grow into the next big receiver coming out of Kansas State. I'm really excited to watch that."
The tale of the Johnson Boys begins with the father. Clester Johnson was the 1991 Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year as an all-state quarterback who threw for 3,757 yards in three years while rushing for 712 yards and scoring 36 touchdowns at Bellevue West High School. First serving as Nebraska's alternate at wingback with starter Abdul Muhammad in 1994 and then taking over the role in 1995, Johnson helped the Huskers to capture two straight national titles.
Clester and Andrea Johnson had three sons — CJ, Cade and Keagan — who each grew to be all-state wide receivers at Bellevue West. Competition — "positive competition," Clester reiterates — began from the time each could lift the pigskin. Clester coached up his three sons along with many more youth around the Bellevue area — "My philosophy is you're better than you think you are. The power of the mind, to me that's the key," Clester says — while keeping the focus on having fun. And the boys had fun from an early age. And their competitiveness emerged in most everything they did from playing board games to draining jumpshots on the concrete slab.
"We love each other," Keagan says. "There was a lot of backyard football and fights on the cement basketball courts. It made us into the athletes we are. I'm blessed because I know some people aren't fortunate to have two older brothers. Ultimately, that just made me want to be better and be like them."
Adds Cade: "It was just our upbringing and everything our parents did in raising us. Dad always taught us whatever we do we're going to give 100%. We were all programmed the same way. We didn't want to let down the name on the back of our jersey. We always wanted to strive for greatness. Both of our parents got the best out of us in everyday life, not just sports, but how to treat people and be the best version of ourselves.
"It's just means something a little bit more to me, having that last name."
CJ grew into a 6-foot-2, 209-pound Gatorade Player of the Year (Clester and CJ are the first father-son duo ever to be named Gatorade Player of the Year, according to Gatorade archives) as well as the No. 3 overall recruit in the state of Nebraska. CJ's 3,548 receiving yards set a new state of Nebraska record for all classifications, while his 195 career receptions set a Nebraska Class A record, as did his 44 career receiving touchdowns. He chose Wyoming over Harvard, Kansas, K-State, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio, becoming a prime target for future Pro Bowl quarterback Josh Allen. Yet CJ opted not to pursue a career in the NFL.
Cade was a 5-foot-10, 184-pound pass catcher and set Bellevue West records with 43 catches for 1,061 yards and 16 touchdowns during his senior season. Cade went to South Dakota State, earned Second Team All-America honors in 2018 and was named to the Walter Camp FCS All-America Team in 2019. Cade went from undrafted free agent to the Seahawks' de facto third receiver in 2023.
Keagan was the No. 19-rated athlete in the Class of 2021. He totaled 1,612 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns over three prep seasons, including a 935-yard, 10-touchdown campaign while playing just seven games as a senior during the COVID-shortened season.
"Keagan is a natural like CJ and driven like Cade, so he can be that guy," Clester says. "If Keagan is able to show everything he has then he can have a long career at the next level. He has the ability to be a top draft pick. I've spoken with him about this. He knows. He's fast and big and has size and is smart and articulate. Ever since he was a little kid, he was special. He's always been a humble kid, but what really helped him was having those others who were in front of him.
"He always had something to be good at."
Perhaps that's what Bellevue West head coach Michael Huffman noticed the most.
"Anytime you have that much family success, there's going to be pressure, and then you add to it that ever since he was little, he was said to be the most talented of the three," Huffman says. "He was quiet but it didn't show up on the field. He was a heck of a player."
Keagan says that "pressure is just what you make it."
"Pressure can either eat you or fuel you," Keagan says. "I've tried my best to let it fuel me. I don't try to compare myself to my brothers or my father. At the end of the day, if I can become the best version of myself off the field and on the field, I'll be pretty pleased and have no regrets."
Klieman quickly zeroed in on Johnson when he announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on December 1. With the departure of Knowles and Warner, Klieman was already in the planning stages for 2023 by the time the Wildcats left AT&T Stadium after their thrilling 31-28 overtime victory against No. 3 TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game on December 3.
"(Klieman) got me in contact with Keagan pretty soon after we got back and told me to reach out to him because he was a big-time prospect for us," Howard says. "In the initial process, he was a guy we had really, really high on our board. I hadn't watched much of his film, but I sent him a text and he texted back. Right off the bat, he seemed like a really good dude."
Former K-State wide receivers coach Thad Ward came armed with his laptop and visited Keagan and Clester in Iowa City. "(Ward) said, 'Keagan, you're the missing piece,' and he thought Keagan could fill the role that Malik played," Clester says. The meeting solidified a home for Keagan, who Clester says received between 25 and 30 scholarship offers upon his initial transfer announcement, and who had narrowed his choices to K-State and Notre Dame, two schools who recruited Keagan out of high school.
"We've known Coach Huffman and Keagan's family up there and his older brother played at South Dakota State, so there's a lot of familiarity with a lot of our staff," Klein says. "It wasn't like either one of us was getting to know each other from scratch. There was history, a rapport in everything that definitely sped up the process. He saw what we were doing on tape on the field and he saw that he'd be a really good fit."
Once Keagan and Clester walked away from the meeting with Ward, Keagan, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining, was at peace.
"I was supposed to fly out to South Bend the following morning," Keagan says. "The transfer portal is a finicky process just because there are a lot of moving parts. If I knew where I wanted to go, I wasn't going to take any extra visits. I really liked Notre Dame, but I felt most comfortable with K-State, and I didn't feel there was a need to continue looking around, so I just committed then."
Adds Clester: "Klein is clearly creative with how he gets the ball to his playmakers. Keagan said if K-State offered a scholarship that's where he was going to go."
Why transfer from Iowa? Consider Johnson posted 18 catches for 362 yards (second most on the team) and two touchdowns as a true freshman in 2021. The Big Ten Network called him "a yards-after-catch machine for years to come," as highlight after highlight showed defenders bouncing off Johnson in traffic. Enrolling in time for 2021 spring practice, Johnson became engrained in the system under Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. Johnson saw the first action of his career in a 34-6 win over No. 17 Indiana and played in a 27-17 win at No. 9 Iowa State. His first-career reception went for 43 yards in his first-career start against Colorado State, and he added a career-high 49-yard catch during the 24-14 victory. At the end of the season, he earned the team's Hustle Award. It was a promising beginning for Johnson, a four-star product who "loved" Iowa wide receivers coach Kelton Copeland.
But beneath the freshman stats and performances during the Hawkeyes' 10-win season and Big Ten's West Division title, Johnson played through a pelvic injury that ultimately landed him in the hospital and kept him off the field the final game of his freshman season in a 20-17 loss to No. 22 Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl.
"Nobody could figure it out," says Clester,
Once doctors identified that Johnson did not require surgery but instead needed a pelvic realignment, Johnson bounced back following a procedure and was full-go for his sophomore campaign. However, Johnson suffered impending nagging injuries that hindered a potentially promising season. Iowa went 8-5 in 2022 with a 21-0 win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl and wins in five of its final six games. But Johnson, a starter entering the season, was unable to contribute. He only saw action in two games as he missed 10 games due to injury. He caught two passes for 11 yards against Nevada.
Iowa ranked 129th in total offense (251.5), 123rd in rushing offense (94.8), 122nd in passing offense (156.7) and 120th in scoring offense (17.7) last season.
Things simply didn't feel right.
"My life has been football for the past six or seven years, so to have that taken away where you can't participate, it's tough, and I hadn't been through it before," Johnson says. "I wouldn't change a thing, though. You have to go through certain things like that in life to become the best version of yourself.
"When I got to K-State, it felt like a new start. I just felt refreshed and was excited to get started with this new chapter."
The nagging injuries? They appear to have vanished.
"Keagan ran 22.3 miles per hour today, I think it was," Howard says one day in early May. "Man, he was cruising. He can absolutely cruise and he's a stout guy, too. He has some legs on him and, man, he can fly, he can straight fly."
Klein, during a two-hour drive last week, reveals what he witnessed in Johnson from the outset of spring practice: His elite ability to get in and out of breaks.
"He's a big-time outside receiver," Klein says. "He's got in-line speed to run by some people. He has really good twitch and burst out of breaks. His ability to put his foot in the ground, change direction, create separation on the comeback at the top of the route, is as good as I've seen in a minute."
Howard played in seven games with six starts over the second half of last season, throwing for 1,633 yards and 15 touchdowns to just four interceptions. He fired multiple touchdown passes in six-straight games, the longest streak ever by a K-State quarterback in a single season. The Wildcats bring back ever-dangerous sixth-year senior Phillip Brooks, sophomore RJ Garcia II and All-Big 12 First Team tight end Ben Sinnott, who became a pass-catching workhouse last season. But Johnson also caught the eye of Howard, who calls him "a beast."
"Putting one man on him, is almost like leaving him wide open," Howard says. "For a guy who'd just come in a few weeks before, he picked up the offense very, very quickly. He made some absolutely insane catches in the spring. Our chemistry grew exponentially by the day.
"When you have Phil doing what he's going to do in the slot and hopefully get Jadon Jackson back, and RJ has been doing some really, really good things, and of course having Ben, I'm really excited about our passing game. We're trying to take some more deep shots this year and air that thing out when we can and Keagan is an absolute matchup nightmare."
Johnson describes himself as a "well-rounded" wide receiver, but cautions that "I don't like talking too highly of myself because I know two years from now there'll be more things I've learned and added to my game."
He definitely has wheels.
"If I had to go out and run a 40 tomorrow, I think I could be a high 4.3," he says. "I don't know. Maybe a mid-4.3. I'm definitely in the 4.3 to 4.4 range, though."
Howard remembers a post route in the spring — "one of my better throws this spring," he says — in which he led Johnson across the field with a defender on his hip. Johnson instinctively adjusted and Howard let fly with the football "and put it right on him." Johnson also made a couple catches on fade routes "that were unbelievable."
"There was also a run-pass option with a little out-and-up concept to the boundary and he absolutely destroyed the cornerback on the route," Howard says. "I thought he was going to go around and out against the cornerback and then go up, but Keagan recognized the defender jumped outside and he slipped him up inside. That was probably my favorite play — a little out-and-up route he put on a cornerback. I mean, it was dirty. We were right on the same page. I saw him jump outside, and I was thinking, 'stick it up inside,' and right on cue he did it and I put it right on him."
Asked if Johnson could emerge as one of the best wide receivers in the Big 12 in the fall, Klein replies, "I'd say absolutely."
"Once again, there's so many things that go into making sure all the pieces are in place for anyone to have that kind of year," Klein continues. "There's so much that needs to go into that. At this point they're putting in the work and their desire matches that kind of level of potential and aspirations. As long as that holds true I think he could have a really good year."
Cade cannot wait to see his brother in action again.
"Honestly, people ask me all the time how I project Keagan to be, and he's a 10 times better NFL prospect than I was coming out of college, and he still has so many years to get better before he reaches this next phase of his life," Cade says. "The best thing is he has so much more potential that has yet to tap into."
It's chicken noodle soup for the father's football-loving soul. K-State's season opener against Southeast Missouri State on September 2 cannot arrive soon enough. Following a date against Troy on September 9, Johnson and the Wildcats travel to Missouri and then face the Big 12 gauntlet: UCF, at Oklahoma State, at Texas Tech, TCU, Houston, at Texas, Baylor, at Kansas and Iowa State. And then? Who knows? Another Big 12 Championship season — and more — could be in the works. Clester counts down the days to visit Bill Snyder Family Stadium and witness the gridiron rebirth of his son. It's been a long time coming.
"I'm absolutely pumped because I feel like Keagan can finally get a chance to unleash the beast, and I think he's going to unleash it this year," Clester says. "The only thing that's held Keagan back is just the opportunity to really blast off. I'm so excited because he's finally back to full health and in a position to really show his talent. Mentally, physically, emotionally, he'll be ready to show the world.
"I think you guys will see something special."
The news hit the internet faster than a Beyonce album release shortly after noon on December 11 — "Next chapter…#EMAW" the tweet read — as 20-year-old wide receiver Keagan Johnson announced on Twitter his transfer to Kansas State, carrying with it plenty of vim and vigor as the former Iowa pass catcher officially joined head coach Chris Klieman, offensive coordinator Collin Klein and quarterback Will Howard, thus squashing Notre Dame speculation and slamming shut any probability that the native of Bellevue, Nebraska might trot out with the Huskers.
With all the transfer portal hype out there — Travis Hunter enrolled at Colorado, Sam Hartman went to Notre Dame and Fentrell Cypress bolted to Florida State — Johnson-to-K-State didn't necessarily move the needle nationally, but that the 6-foot, 196-pounder found a home with the Big 12 Champions is no small victory for the Wildcats, who went 10-4 with a Sugar Bowl appearance and sit at No. 18 in ESPN's post-spring college football power rankings.
K-State lost Consensus All-American do-everything Deuce Vaughn (Cowboys) and two of their top three wideouts in Malik Knowles (Vikings) and Kade Warner (Buccaneers) to the NFL. Spend a few moments with Howard and one of the top returning passers in the Big 12 Conference surmises big things for Johnson in Manhattan.
"I think Keagan can be one of, if not, the best wide receiver in the Big 12," Howard says. "I really think he has that kind of potential."
Wildcats' fans' expectations are higher than they've been since the 2012 team rolled to a No. 1 ranking in the BCS Standings. That team was led by Klein, the 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist, who will enter his second season as K-State offensive coordinator in the fall. Klein's offense ranked amongst the best in school history in 2022, finishing seventh in total points (452), second in total offense (5,863), fifth in yards per game (418.8), sixth in passing yards (2,947) and fourth in rushing yards (2,916). His diverse offense could be even faster and deadlier this fall. The goal? To average 50 points per game.
"I think 50 is a baseline for Coach Klein, and I mean that 100%," offensive line coach Conor Riley says. "I mean that with all sincerity."
Could Keagan, who showed vast promise at Iowa as a freshman but who missed almost the entire 2022 season due to nagging injuries, be the peanut butter to Howard's jelly? That remains to be seen, but Cade Johnson, Keagan's 25-year-old brother and wideout for the Seattle Seahawks, is close friends with K-State all-time great Tyler Lockett, and Cade sees immense potential for one of the league's more unknown threats heading into the summer.
"When Keagan text me that he was going with the Wildcats, I told Tyler and he was really excited for him," Cade says. "It's a really good fit for Keagan and Manhattan is a good town for him to be in to grow into the next big receiver coming out of Kansas State. I'm really excited to watch that."
The tale of the Johnson Boys begins with the father. Clester Johnson was the 1991 Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year as an all-state quarterback who threw for 3,757 yards in three years while rushing for 712 yards and scoring 36 touchdowns at Bellevue West High School. First serving as Nebraska's alternate at wingback with starter Abdul Muhammad in 1994 and then taking over the role in 1995, Johnson helped the Huskers to capture two straight national titles.
Clester and Andrea Johnson had three sons — CJ, Cade and Keagan — who each grew to be all-state wide receivers at Bellevue West. Competition — "positive competition," Clester reiterates — began from the time each could lift the pigskin. Clester coached up his three sons along with many more youth around the Bellevue area — "My philosophy is you're better than you think you are. The power of the mind, to me that's the key," Clester says — while keeping the focus on having fun. And the boys had fun from an early age. And their competitiveness emerged in most everything they did from playing board games to draining jumpshots on the concrete slab.
"We love each other," Keagan says. "There was a lot of backyard football and fights on the cement basketball courts. It made us into the athletes we are. I'm blessed because I know some people aren't fortunate to have two older brothers. Ultimately, that just made me want to be better and be like them."
Adds Cade: "It was just our upbringing and everything our parents did in raising us. Dad always taught us whatever we do we're going to give 100%. We were all programmed the same way. We didn't want to let down the name on the back of our jersey. We always wanted to strive for greatness. Both of our parents got the best out of us in everyday life, not just sports, but how to treat people and be the best version of ourselves.
"It's just means something a little bit more to me, having that last name."
CJ grew into a 6-foot-2, 209-pound Gatorade Player of the Year (Clester and CJ are the first father-son duo ever to be named Gatorade Player of the Year, according to Gatorade archives) as well as the No. 3 overall recruit in the state of Nebraska. CJ's 3,548 receiving yards set a new state of Nebraska record for all classifications, while his 195 career receptions set a Nebraska Class A record, as did his 44 career receiving touchdowns. He chose Wyoming over Harvard, Kansas, K-State, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio, becoming a prime target for future Pro Bowl quarterback Josh Allen. Yet CJ opted not to pursue a career in the NFL.
Cade was a 5-foot-10, 184-pound pass catcher and set Bellevue West records with 43 catches for 1,061 yards and 16 touchdowns during his senior season. Cade went to South Dakota State, earned Second Team All-America honors in 2018 and was named to the Walter Camp FCS All-America Team in 2019. Cade went from undrafted free agent to the Seahawks' de facto third receiver in 2023.
Keagan was the No. 19-rated athlete in the Class of 2021. He totaled 1,612 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns over three prep seasons, including a 935-yard, 10-touchdown campaign while playing just seven games as a senior during the COVID-shortened season.
"Keagan is a natural like CJ and driven like Cade, so he can be that guy," Clester says. "If Keagan is able to show everything he has then he can have a long career at the next level. He has the ability to be a top draft pick. I've spoken with him about this. He knows. He's fast and big and has size and is smart and articulate. Ever since he was a little kid, he was special. He's always been a humble kid, but what really helped him was having those others who were in front of him.
"He always had something to be good at."
Perhaps that's what Bellevue West head coach Michael Huffman noticed the most.
"Anytime you have that much family success, there's going to be pressure, and then you add to it that ever since he was little, he was said to be the most talented of the three," Huffman says. "He was quiet but it didn't show up on the field. He was a heck of a player."
Keagan says that "pressure is just what you make it."
"Pressure can either eat you or fuel you," Keagan says. "I've tried my best to let it fuel me. I don't try to compare myself to my brothers or my father. At the end of the day, if I can become the best version of myself off the field and on the field, I'll be pretty pleased and have no regrets."
Klieman quickly zeroed in on Johnson when he announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on December 1. With the departure of Knowles and Warner, Klieman was already in the planning stages for 2023 by the time the Wildcats left AT&T Stadium after their thrilling 31-28 overtime victory against No. 3 TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game on December 3.
"(Klieman) got me in contact with Keagan pretty soon after we got back and told me to reach out to him because he was a big-time prospect for us," Howard says. "In the initial process, he was a guy we had really, really high on our board. I hadn't watched much of his film, but I sent him a text and he texted back. Right off the bat, he seemed like a really good dude."
Former K-State wide receivers coach Thad Ward came armed with his laptop and visited Keagan and Clester in Iowa City. "(Ward) said, 'Keagan, you're the missing piece,' and he thought Keagan could fill the role that Malik played," Clester says. The meeting solidified a home for Keagan, who Clester says received between 25 and 30 scholarship offers upon his initial transfer announcement, and who had narrowed his choices to K-State and Notre Dame, two schools who recruited Keagan out of high school.
"We've known Coach Huffman and Keagan's family up there and his older brother played at South Dakota State, so there's a lot of familiarity with a lot of our staff," Klein says. "It wasn't like either one of us was getting to know each other from scratch. There was history, a rapport in everything that definitely sped up the process. He saw what we were doing on tape on the field and he saw that he'd be a really good fit."
Once Keagan and Clester walked away from the meeting with Ward, Keagan, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining, was at peace.
"I was supposed to fly out to South Bend the following morning," Keagan says. "The transfer portal is a finicky process just because there are a lot of moving parts. If I knew where I wanted to go, I wasn't going to take any extra visits. I really liked Notre Dame, but I felt most comfortable with K-State, and I didn't feel there was a need to continue looking around, so I just committed then."
Adds Clester: "Klein is clearly creative with how he gets the ball to his playmakers. Keagan said if K-State offered a scholarship that's where he was going to go."
Why transfer from Iowa? Consider Johnson posted 18 catches for 362 yards (second most on the team) and two touchdowns as a true freshman in 2021. The Big Ten Network called him "a yards-after-catch machine for years to come," as highlight after highlight showed defenders bouncing off Johnson in traffic. Enrolling in time for 2021 spring practice, Johnson became engrained in the system under Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. Johnson saw the first action of his career in a 34-6 win over No. 17 Indiana and played in a 27-17 win at No. 9 Iowa State. His first-career reception went for 43 yards in his first-career start against Colorado State, and he added a career-high 49-yard catch during the 24-14 victory. At the end of the season, he earned the team's Hustle Award. It was a promising beginning for Johnson, a four-star product who "loved" Iowa wide receivers coach Kelton Copeland.
But beneath the freshman stats and performances during the Hawkeyes' 10-win season and Big Ten's West Division title, Johnson played through a pelvic injury that ultimately landed him in the hospital and kept him off the field the final game of his freshman season in a 20-17 loss to No. 22 Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl.
"Nobody could figure it out," says Clester,
Once doctors identified that Johnson did not require surgery but instead needed a pelvic realignment, Johnson bounced back following a procedure and was full-go for his sophomore campaign. However, Johnson suffered impending nagging injuries that hindered a potentially promising season. Iowa went 8-5 in 2022 with a 21-0 win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl and wins in five of its final six games. But Johnson, a starter entering the season, was unable to contribute. He only saw action in two games as he missed 10 games due to injury. He caught two passes for 11 yards against Nevada.
Iowa ranked 129th in total offense (251.5), 123rd in rushing offense (94.8), 122nd in passing offense (156.7) and 120th in scoring offense (17.7) last season.
Things simply didn't feel right.
"My life has been football for the past six or seven years, so to have that taken away where you can't participate, it's tough, and I hadn't been through it before," Johnson says. "I wouldn't change a thing, though. You have to go through certain things like that in life to become the best version of yourself.
"When I got to K-State, it felt like a new start. I just felt refreshed and was excited to get started with this new chapter."
The nagging injuries? They appear to have vanished.
"Keagan ran 22.3 miles per hour today, I think it was," Howard says one day in early May. "Man, he was cruising. He can absolutely cruise and he's a stout guy, too. He has some legs on him and, man, he can fly, he can straight fly."
Klein, during a two-hour drive last week, reveals what he witnessed in Johnson from the outset of spring practice: His elite ability to get in and out of breaks.
"He's a big-time outside receiver," Klein says. "He's got in-line speed to run by some people. He has really good twitch and burst out of breaks. His ability to put his foot in the ground, change direction, create separation on the comeback at the top of the route, is as good as I've seen in a minute."
Howard played in seven games with six starts over the second half of last season, throwing for 1,633 yards and 15 touchdowns to just four interceptions. He fired multiple touchdown passes in six-straight games, the longest streak ever by a K-State quarterback in a single season. The Wildcats bring back ever-dangerous sixth-year senior Phillip Brooks, sophomore RJ Garcia II and All-Big 12 First Team tight end Ben Sinnott, who became a pass-catching workhouse last season. But Johnson also caught the eye of Howard, who calls him "a beast."
"Putting one man on him, is almost like leaving him wide open," Howard says. "For a guy who'd just come in a few weeks before, he picked up the offense very, very quickly. He made some absolutely insane catches in the spring. Our chemistry grew exponentially by the day.
"When you have Phil doing what he's going to do in the slot and hopefully get Jadon Jackson back, and RJ has been doing some really, really good things, and of course having Ben, I'm really excited about our passing game. We're trying to take some more deep shots this year and air that thing out when we can and Keagan is an absolute matchup nightmare."
Johnson describes himself as a "well-rounded" wide receiver, but cautions that "I don't like talking too highly of myself because I know two years from now there'll be more things I've learned and added to my game."
He definitely has wheels.
"If I had to go out and run a 40 tomorrow, I think I could be a high 4.3," he says. "I don't know. Maybe a mid-4.3. I'm definitely in the 4.3 to 4.4 range, though."
Howard remembers a post route in the spring — "one of my better throws this spring," he says — in which he led Johnson across the field with a defender on his hip. Johnson instinctively adjusted and Howard let fly with the football "and put it right on him." Johnson also made a couple catches on fade routes "that were unbelievable."
"There was also a run-pass option with a little out-and-up concept to the boundary and he absolutely destroyed the cornerback on the route," Howard says. "I thought he was going to go around and out against the cornerback and then go up, but Keagan recognized the defender jumped outside and he slipped him up inside. That was probably my favorite play — a little out-and-up route he put on a cornerback. I mean, it was dirty. We were right on the same page. I saw him jump outside, and I was thinking, 'stick it up inside,' and right on cue he did it and I put it right on him."
Asked if Johnson could emerge as one of the best wide receivers in the Big 12 in the fall, Klein replies, "I'd say absolutely."
"Once again, there's so many things that go into making sure all the pieces are in place for anyone to have that kind of year," Klein continues. "There's so much that needs to go into that. At this point they're putting in the work and their desire matches that kind of level of potential and aspirations. As long as that holds true I think he could have a really good year."
Cade cannot wait to see his brother in action again.
"Honestly, people ask me all the time how I project Keagan to be, and he's a 10 times better NFL prospect than I was coming out of college, and he still has so many years to get better before he reaches this next phase of his life," Cade says. "The best thing is he has so much more potential that has yet to tap into."
It's chicken noodle soup for the father's football-loving soul. K-State's season opener against Southeast Missouri State on September 2 cannot arrive soon enough. Following a date against Troy on September 9, Johnson and the Wildcats travel to Missouri and then face the Big 12 gauntlet: UCF, at Oklahoma State, at Texas Tech, TCU, Houston, at Texas, Baylor, at Kansas and Iowa State. And then? Who knows? Another Big 12 Championship season — and more — could be in the works. Clester counts down the days to visit Bill Snyder Family Stadium and witness the gridiron rebirth of his son. It's been a long time coming.
"I'm absolutely pumped because I feel like Keagan can finally get a chance to unleash the beast, and I think he's going to unleash it this year," Clester says. "The only thing that's held Keagan back is just the opportunity to really blast off. I'm so excited because he's finally back to full health and in a position to really show his talent. Mentally, physically, emotionally, he'll be ready to show the world.
"I think you guys will see something special."
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
TE
/ Football
RB
/ Football
WR
/ FootballK-State Baseball | Game Highlights vs TCU
Saturday, April 04
K-State Volleyball | March Madness Tournament
Friday, April 03
K-State Football | 2026-2027 Student Athletic Passes ON SALE NOW 🔥
Friday, April 03
K-State Tennis | Timing is everything 🎤
Friday, April 03
