Pop Warner Teammates Reuniting at K-State

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Breakfast was a make-your-own-omelet bar inside the home of Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman. It was omelets, fruit and assorted pastries for a gathering that featured Klieman and wife Rhonda, offensive coordinator Conor Riley, co-offensive coordinator Matt Wells, running backs coach Brian Anderson, along with other football staff members, and sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson. The guests of honor were the Edwards family, including sophomore running back Dylan Edwards.

Edwards, a native of Derby, Kansas, had spent the weekend visiting the K-State football program. He met with Klieman and his offensive staff. He spent time with Johnson, his longtime friend. Edwards sought a new college home after entering the transfer portal following one season at Colorado. K-State was on his list of potential schools.

As breakfast came and passed, Edwards, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound offensive threat, made a grand announcement to the gathering.

"Dylan said, 'I already told Coach I'm committed to coming here,'" Johnson recalls, wearing a big grin. "The whole room just exploded."

Johnson, sitting inside the third level of the Vanier Family Football Complex on Tuesday morning, gazes at the football stadium that will feature the Johnson-Edwards connection for the first time in many years.

"I think it's the right fit," Johnson says. "I'm just excited to work with him and be around him. That's been my guy since, man, since as long as I can remember."

There's a photo that Johnson shared on social media this past weekend. It was a photo of Johnson and Edwards standing together on the sideline in helmet and pads during a football game their fifth-grade year. The photo created a buzz among some K-State fans that perhaps a reunion between quarterback and running back could be imminent.

"That photo, if I had to guess, we were probably blowing out the other team that we were playing and we were just chilling," Johnson says.

Edwards sits on the other end of the phone. It's Monday morning, shortly after K-State officially announced that Edwards had signed a Financial Aid Agreement.

"I signed the letter-of-intent, and it was a happy cry," Edwards says. "I bawled my eyes out because I was full of joy that this was really happening. It's a great feeling."

Edwards, awash in emotion, says, finally, "I'm really excited."

He pauses.

"I hope you can hear it in my voice."

Edwards, who has three years of eligibility remaining, played in 12 games six starts for the Buffaloes. He finished last season with 76 carries for 321 yards and one touchdown while adding 36 catches for 299 yards and four touchdowns. He made an instant impact as he became the first FBS player in seven seasons to score four touchdowns from scrimmage in a debut and just the fourth true freshman to do so in the past 27 seasons in the season opener at TCU on September 2.

He also set the Colorado record for most receiving yards (135) by a running back and tied the school mark for receiving touchdowns (three) by any player in a single game. His four receiving touchdowns in 2023 marked the most by a Colorado running back since Ricard Johnson also had four in 1982. He finished as the first true freshman in Colorado history to record at least 250 rushing yards and 250 receiving yards in a single season.

After starting the first four games of the season, he started just twice more the rest of the way.

"This wasn't an easy decision to leave Colorado," Edwards says. "I had a great time at Colorado. I just felt like it was my time to step away from the team and move on to a new opportunity for myself."

How does it feel?

"I feel like I'm coming home," he replies. "I can't wait to finally go out there and run onto the field and feel the energy and the love from the K-State fan base."

Edwards starred at Derby High School. He was a consensus four-star prospect by the recruiting services. Rivals rated him as the No. 133 player in the Class of 2022 and the third best running back. The 2021-22 Gatorade Kansas Football Player of the Year rushed for 2,603 yards and 38 touchdowns while averaging 12.5 yards per carry during his junior season. He followed that up with 1,900 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns his senior season.

He finished his career with 622 rushes for 6,426 yards (10.3 yards per attempt) and 95 touchdowns. He rushed for at least 100 yards in 32 of his 36 career games. He added 40 catches for 556 yards and seven touchdowns and produced 7,944 all-purpose yards and 108 touchdowns.

After committing to K-State in June 2022, Edwards eventually opted to play at Colorado.

Johnson is excited to be reunited with his friend at K-State. Edwards, whose father Leon also played football at K-State, is eager to join Johnson as well.

"The first time I met Avery was in the second grade," Edwards says. "He was my first friend. He and my friend Isaiah Atwater. We played on the same basketball team together. We've been cool ever since."

They played football together until the seventh grade.

Now they'll have a chance to show their talents together again on the gridiron.

"Everything I had at Colorado, it wasn't given to me, I had to earn it," Edwards says. "I'm just happy to know coming to K-State, nothing will be handed to me as well, and I'll have to go out and earn everything."

K-State comes off a 9-4 season in which it finished at No. 19 in the final AP Top 25 poll. The Wildcats are projected to begin their 2024 season in the national polls as well. Johnson, who is considered by some experts to be among the top sophomores in college football, is a part of the reason why.

Johnson arrived last spring as the No. 1-rated dual-threat passer in the Class of 2023 following a brilliant career at Maize High School. He played in eight games last season, and he made his first-career true start at quarterback in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Johnson, who became a fan favorite for his electrifying runs (he scored five rushing touchdowns at Texas Tech), completed 37-of-66 passes for 479 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions and had 53 carries for 296 yards and seven touchdowns last season.

K-State brings back junior running back DJ Giddens, a bruising 6-foot-1, 212-pound Junction City native who rushed for 1,226 yards and 10 touchdowns and who enters the 2024 season third in school history in averaging 5.59 yards per carry. He needs 256 rushing yards to become the 12^th player in school history to reach 2,000 rushing yards in a career.

Throw Edwards into the mix, and, well…

"Dylan just adds a different element to our offense," Johnson says. "His game is going to complement DJ's game so well, and DJ's game is going to complement Dylan's game so well. It's just another piece that adds to this offense, which I already felt was going to be special, but I feel Dylan takes it to the next level.

"What he can do in the run game and through the air, it's hard to imagine all the ways that we can use him in this offense, and just trying to wrap my head around it, I'm super excited. We do have a lot of pieces and not to forget about the guys we have now, because we're setting ourselves up pretty good when the fall rolls around."

Johnson pauses.

"I'm just ready to play, really. I'm ready for the season to start."

Edwards puts his reunion with Johnson like this: "I just feel like, me and Avery on the same team, that's like Batman and Robin, you know? I know on the field, he's really good, so he's just precise in everything that he does. It's just going to push me to be better."

Told of Edwards' analogy, Johnson grins.

"I can get behind that," Johnson says.

So, is Johnson or Edwards the Batman?

"He can be Batman," Johnson says. "I don't mind."

The K-State offense could feature more than two superheroes in the fall. But at the moment, Edwards takes a pause on Monday and reflects on the photo of he and Johnson on the field together in the fifth grade.

"It's a blessing," he says, "just to know you get to play with your childhood friend. You know he's going to give his 100%, and I'm going to give my 100%. He's going to make me better every day.

"I can't wait to share the field with him, put my head down and work with him, and become great together."

Johnson reflects on the photo of he and Edwards. He hopes for an opportunity to replicate that photo someday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium — two friends and playmakers, standing on the sideline together, basking in the final moments of a victory.

"Of course, we'll have to do something like that," Johnson says. "It's going to be cool. We'll have a story on it."

And, oh, what a story it could be in 2024.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

DJ Giddens

Avery Johnson

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