Kansas State University Athletics
Bonds Forming to Shape 2024 Offense
Feb 07, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The FaceTime conversations began after bowl season in early January. Here was Matt Wells, Kansas State's new co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/associate head coach chatting with and pouring into sophomore Avery Johnson, arguably one of the most athletic quarterbacks in school history. They were on the ground floor, the coach and pupil, getting to know one another, knowing they'd be virtually inseparable next fall.
Wells, whose resume includes coaching Jordan Love at Utah State, knew that he and Johnson were the perfect match.
"It's been really good," Wells said in his first public news conference Tuesday. "It's been really easy and fun for me. Avery is a guy that we know to be a competitor. I'm learning that. He's smart, he's driven, he has a great heart. I don't pretend to know everything about him as a quarterback, but the last few days and over the weekends, we've met a lot over the weekends as I'd come back from recruiting.
"It's been going good."
Johnson, the top dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2023, comes off a true freshman campaign in which he earned his first-career start at quarterback in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, a game in which he was named MVP. Johnson completed 37-of-66 passes for 479 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions and rushed 52 times for 296 yards and seven touchdowns while appearing in eight games with two starts.
He was just the fifth true freshman starting quarterback in school history, joining James Mack (1975), Duane Howard (1976), Josh Freeman (2006) and Will Howard (2020). He was one of three true freshman quarterbacks to start and win a bowl game in 2023, joining Duke's Grayson Loftis and Tennessee's Nico Iamaleava.
Wells, a great offensive mind and developer of quarterback talent who has over 25 years of coaching experience, including nine as a head coach, came to K-State after spending the last two seasons at Oklahoma as an advisor to the head coach/offensive analyst. Prior to that, he served as the head coach at his alma mater, Utah State, from 2013 through 2018 and at Texas Tech from 2019 to 2021. In addition to coaching quarterbacks during his 27-year coaching career, Wells has also spent time tutoring wide receivers and tight ends. In total, Wells has been a part of 13 bowl teams and two conference championships.
What impresses Wells the most about Johnson from a physical aspect?
"Just watching him on film, the easy answer is his legs, because he has some God-given talent there to escape as well as just straight-line linear speed," Wells said. "He's fast, but the kid can throw the football, he really can, and that's what he's been doing his whole life. I went through it twice, the roughly 200 plays that he played this year just to watch him, and his best days are ahead of him.
"The best is yet to come for Avery Johnson. He has a high ceiling. We're going to hopefully see a better version of him this spring and next fall he's going to be better than he was last year."
Conor Riley has a new job responsibility this season. The longtime offensive line coach, who had been named interim offensive coordinator for the bowl game following the departure of Collin Klein to Texas A&M, was elevated by head coach Chris Klieman to a permanent role in January.
As interim offensive coordinator in K-State's 28-19 victory over NC State, the Wildcats amassed 257 rushing yards and 435 total yards against a Wolfpack defense that entered bowl season ranked 16th and 25th in those categories. The Wildcats' 257 rushing yards were the fourth most in their bowl history.
Riley, who will continue to also serve as offensive line coach, has been an integral part of an offensive staff that has helped produce 34.6 points per game over the last two seasons to rank 19th in the nation and third among returning Big 12 teams. The Wildcats have averaged at least 32 points per game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2016 and 2017 while they have eclipsed an average of 200 rushing yards per game in consecutive seasons for the first time since doing so for three-straight years from 2001 through 2003.
"The system we currently have in place is a system we've used since 2013 when I arrived at North Dakota State, and it's just continually evolved through the number of different coordinators we've had, including most recently Collin Klein," Riley said on Tuesday. "I don't know that you're going to see significant changes. Each coordinator has put his own spin on the offense, and we're using very, very similar terminology. We're going to use a lot of the same things that we've done and the things that we've done the previous two years are not a ton different than what we've been doing since my time with Coach Klieman all the way going back."
Riley will look to break a stigma next fall as well, as some might not project an offensive line coach to serve as offensive coordinator.
"It's maybe a little bit different of a track to this particular position being an offensive line coach and a coordinator," Riley said. "I'm quick to point out the national champs this past year had an offensive line coach as their coordinator. The stigma that comes out, you're well versed in what was said in early December when I was named interim, which was we were going to install the triple-option and run four yards in a cloud of dust, and that's not the case at all. I hope that bowl game proved that a little bit.
"I'm a firm believer that in order to be successful at this level you do have to establish the run. What establishing that run can ultimately do in expanding some of the things in the pass game in just a short amount of time in evaluating this past season, those are things that excite me. We do need to be explosive on the perimeter and efficient in the passing game and continue to take advantage of things that the defenses are going to give us."
Riley, too, is excited to pair up with Well sand Johnson going forward.
"He has a ton of maturity, and I really didn't necessarily (just) see that when he took the reins the Monday after the Iowa State loss, but you've seen it since he stepped foot on campus in his desire to learn and compete," Riley said. "We all know what kind of athlete he is and what kind of football player he is, but the character of who he is and what type of competitor he is — that's exactly what we anticipated going into the bowl game.
"I think it's pretty well documented what we anticipate for Avery's growth moving forward."
Wells has witnessed growth in his quarterbacks through the years.
Love accounted for 9,003 yards of total offense in his career, including a 2018 campaign in which he threw for 3,567 yards and 32 touchdowns, before declaring for the NFL Draft following his junior season in 2019. Wells was also instrumental in the development of Chuckie Keeton, who set single-season school records across the board at the quarterback position.
"It's not just Jordan but we had some before Jordan, and some really good quarterbacks that we recruited and coached at Texas Tech who are now Power 5 starters at different places," Well said. "Avery is his own unique self, and I don't think there's always a mechanical way, a set way to teach it. A coach's job is to learn his quarterbacks and players and to help take them to another level and understand how they learn and find a way to teach them and then support them in their quest to be the best.
"That's my job, to help Avery in that quest."
The FaceTime conversations began after bowl season in early January. Here was Matt Wells, Kansas State's new co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/associate head coach chatting with and pouring into sophomore Avery Johnson, arguably one of the most athletic quarterbacks in school history. They were on the ground floor, the coach and pupil, getting to know one another, knowing they'd be virtually inseparable next fall.
Wells, whose resume includes coaching Jordan Love at Utah State, knew that he and Johnson were the perfect match.
"It's been really good," Wells said in his first public news conference Tuesday. "It's been really easy and fun for me. Avery is a guy that we know to be a competitor. I'm learning that. He's smart, he's driven, he has a great heart. I don't pretend to know everything about him as a quarterback, but the last few days and over the weekends, we've met a lot over the weekends as I'd come back from recruiting.
"It's been going good."
Johnson, the top dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2023, comes off a true freshman campaign in which he earned his first-career start at quarterback in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, a game in which he was named MVP. Johnson completed 37-of-66 passes for 479 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions and rushed 52 times for 296 yards and seven touchdowns while appearing in eight games with two starts.
He was just the fifth true freshman starting quarterback in school history, joining James Mack (1975), Duane Howard (1976), Josh Freeman (2006) and Will Howard (2020). He was one of three true freshman quarterbacks to start and win a bowl game in 2023, joining Duke's Grayson Loftis and Tennessee's Nico Iamaleava.
Wells, a great offensive mind and developer of quarterback talent who has over 25 years of coaching experience, including nine as a head coach, came to K-State after spending the last two seasons at Oklahoma as an advisor to the head coach/offensive analyst. Prior to that, he served as the head coach at his alma mater, Utah State, from 2013 through 2018 and at Texas Tech from 2019 to 2021. In addition to coaching quarterbacks during his 27-year coaching career, Wells has also spent time tutoring wide receivers and tight ends. In total, Wells has been a part of 13 bowl teams and two conference championships.
What impresses Wells the most about Johnson from a physical aspect?
"Just watching him on film, the easy answer is his legs, because he has some God-given talent there to escape as well as just straight-line linear speed," Wells said. "He's fast, but the kid can throw the football, he really can, and that's what he's been doing his whole life. I went through it twice, the roughly 200 plays that he played this year just to watch him, and his best days are ahead of him.
"The best is yet to come for Avery Johnson. He has a high ceiling. We're going to hopefully see a better version of him this spring and next fall he's going to be better than he was last year."
Conor Riley has a new job responsibility this season. The longtime offensive line coach, who had been named interim offensive coordinator for the bowl game following the departure of Collin Klein to Texas A&M, was elevated by head coach Chris Klieman to a permanent role in January.
As interim offensive coordinator in K-State's 28-19 victory over NC State, the Wildcats amassed 257 rushing yards and 435 total yards against a Wolfpack defense that entered bowl season ranked 16th and 25th in those categories. The Wildcats' 257 rushing yards were the fourth most in their bowl history.
Riley, who will continue to also serve as offensive line coach, has been an integral part of an offensive staff that has helped produce 34.6 points per game over the last two seasons to rank 19th in the nation and third among returning Big 12 teams. The Wildcats have averaged at least 32 points per game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2016 and 2017 while they have eclipsed an average of 200 rushing yards per game in consecutive seasons for the first time since doing so for three-straight years from 2001 through 2003.
"The system we currently have in place is a system we've used since 2013 when I arrived at North Dakota State, and it's just continually evolved through the number of different coordinators we've had, including most recently Collin Klein," Riley said on Tuesday. "I don't know that you're going to see significant changes. Each coordinator has put his own spin on the offense, and we're using very, very similar terminology. We're going to use a lot of the same things that we've done and the things that we've done the previous two years are not a ton different than what we've been doing since my time with Coach Klieman all the way going back."
Riley will look to break a stigma next fall as well, as some might not project an offensive line coach to serve as offensive coordinator.
"It's maybe a little bit different of a track to this particular position being an offensive line coach and a coordinator," Riley said. "I'm quick to point out the national champs this past year had an offensive line coach as their coordinator. The stigma that comes out, you're well versed in what was said in early December when I was named interim, which was we were going to install the triple-option and run four yards in a cloud of dust, and that's not the case at all. I hope that bowl game proved that a little bit.
"I'm a firm believer that in order to be successful at this level you do have to establish the run. What establishing that run can ultimately do in expanding some of the things in the pass game in just a short amount of time in evaluating this past season, those are things that excite me. We do need to be explosive on the perimeter and efficient in the passing game and continue to take advantage of things that the defenses are going to give us."
Riley, too, is excited to pair up with Well sand Johnson going forward.
"He has a ton of maturity, and I really didn't necessarily (just) see that when he took the reins the Monday after the Iowa State loss, but you've seen it since he stepped foot on campus in his desire to learn and compete," Riley said. "We all know what kind of athlete he is and what kind of football player he is, but the character of who he is and what type of competitor he is — that's exactly what we anticipated going into the bowl game.
"I think it's pretty well documented what we anticipate for Avery's growth moving forward."
Wells has witnessed growth in his quarterbacks through the years.
Love accounted for 9,003 yards of total offense in his career, including a 2018 campaign in which he threw for 3,567 yards and 32 touchdowns, before declaring for the NFL Draft following his junior season in 2019. Wells was also instrumental in the development of Chuckie Keeton, who set single-season school records across the board at the quarterback position.
"It's not just Jordan but we had some before Jordan, and some really good quarterbacks that we recruited and coached at Texas Tech who are now Power 5 starters at different places," Well said. "Avery is his own unique self, and I don't think there's always a mechanical way, a set way to teach it. A coach's job is to learn his quarterbacks and players and to help take them to another level and understand how they learn and find a way to teach them and then support them in their quest to be the best.
"That's my job, to help Avery in that quest."
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
QB
/ FootballK-State Football | Game 5 ⚒️ UCF Victory Highlight
Wednesday, October 01
K-State Men's Basketball | Tang Talkin' Transfers - PJ Haggerty
Monday, September 29
K-State Football | Chris Klieman Press Conference - Sept. 29, 2025
Monday, September 29
K-State Football | Postgame Highlights vs UCF
Saturday, September 27