Offensive Excitement In Store

By: D. Scott Fritchen

It's been one year, five months and 16 days since Matt Wells stepped foot inside the Vanier Family Football Complex as Kansas State's associate head coach/co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, and it's been four months since Wells ascended to offensive coordinator for the Wildcats. As we look out across the football field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on June 20 at 7:19 a.m., it is noted during a chat in Wells' spacious office that year two on Chris Klieman's coaching staff officially arrives in 64 days. That's when K-State opens the 2025 season against Iowa State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic and Wells will man the offensive controls from a coaches' booth nestled near the end zone of Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

And how might that feel? The 51-year-old Wells sliding into the booth for the first time at K-State? Best known for his stellar success as head coach at Utah State, the former Texas Tech head coach, who spent two years at Oklahoma as an offensive analyst and advisor for head coach Brent Venables before joining the Wildcats, was deemed by The Associated Press as "one of the game's top offensive minds." And now, here he'll be, officially setting up shop in Ireland, and inside his Vanier office during this chat, he taps a stack of papers upon his desk — in all, there are three stacks of paper neatly placed to his right — and they are no doubt the product of hours of video study, hours of meetings, and hours of white-board play diagramming where the palm of his hands bear a dark-gray smudge.

"I bet you're wondering, 'Does Wells have some trick plays on his desk? Some exotics?" Wells begins, peering at one stack of paper inquisitively, and wearing a wry grin underneath a white golf cap that sits snug against his head.

He leans forward in his chair, which is stationed in the middle of his large U-shaped desk, and glances at a sleeping laptop an arm's length away — a laptop that rarely gets any slumber with all the bevy of activity this summer.

"I try to work hard on everything, but I believe with exotics, or trick plays, I believe in practicing them — like a lot — so when you actually run it, the players are A) excited about it, and B) fairly well-versed," he says. "I've been on some staffs that practice exotics on Thursday or Friday and give it a run, but that's taking too much of a chance for me. We do them in our volunteer practices this summer, so they're running some of them now. All good. It won't be a trick-fest, don't worry. That's not who we'll be. It's all about calling them at the right time."

Plenty of offensive excitement in store for the fall? Indeed. This comes after Conor Riley and Wells orchestrated an offense in 2024 that finished in the top 15 nationally in multiple categories, including rushing yards per play (second; 6.08) and rushing yards per game (11^th, 215.5). K-State also ranked in the top 10 in school history in 15 game or season categories, including a pair of records in offensive yards per play (6.57) and rushing yards per carry (6.08), while the offense tied for third in passing touchdowns (25), fourth in offensive yards per game (426.8), fifth in total offensive yards (5,549), sixth in rushing yards (2,801), seventh in completions (222) and 10^th in both passing yards (2,749) and pass attempts (383).

All that, of course, began with preparation — both preparation by K-State's offense to execute, and also in K-State's offensive preparation for opposing defenses.

To prepare for the 2025 season, K-State assistant coaches divvied up the first three opponents — Iowa State, North Dakota and Army, while also diving into some Arizona (Wells is familiar with new Arizona defensive coordinator Daniel Gonzales) — studying what each team does well and what each team has done in the past.

"The vast majority of the preparation has been for the first three opponents because the reality is we're preparing for two openers, so to speak," Wells says. "We're the opener for North Dakota in Week 2, so we won't have any tape on them the week before. We're also going to be a day short in our preparation because of the travel from the Ireland trip, which is absolutely no excuse but it's just the situation. We know that and we're preparing for it now.

"The uniqueness of not having any team on the opener is very real, but we have a unique situation in that we played against Iowa State in Week 12 last year and we play them every year. I've played them every year since 2019, and so has Coach Klieman, and Iowa State coach Matt Campbell has been there every year as well. It's like an NFL divisional game — you play them at the end of the year and now you start the season with them. There's uniqueness and familiarity but also in the cat-and-mouse game of strategy. But at the end of the day, every single game will come down to whether K-State put its offensive players into position to win the game and did we get the ball to the dudes who can make plays and did we protect them in the running game and passing game the best we can. It's about the players, not the plays."

Wells adds: "If we aren't recruiting and not with our players right now, we're watching tape of our opponents — a lot."

Meanwhile, the sun beats down on the Wildcats and their coaches as they complete their busiest June that Wells can ever remember as a member of a college coaching staff.

"Yeah, in college football, June has turned into a really crazy time," he says. "It's a crazy, fast, wall-to-wall ball in June. Nobody in this office has had a day off since Memorial Day, and that's not a knock on the system or our calendar, but it's just reality from high school camps, which are evaluations, to going to some camps, whether it's three mega camps to evaluate, and then we have our official visits in midweek and our official visits on the weekends. Then it's our players — 6:00 a.m. runs four days a week, and the player meetings that we're allotted to have, and then game planning. Then we'll hit the brakes for a little bit and crank it back up with training camp in July."

Today's agenda as we chat on June 20 starts with a 6:00 a.m. run, and then after discussing the 2025 season with a visitor, Wells planned to study the Iowa State red-zone defense for a couple hours. Then he would meet with a prospective player and his family at 11:00 a.m. Then he would spend several hours constructing training camp schedules before joining a few current K-State players and a prospective player and his family for dinner at a restaurant in downtown Manhattan.

At a time when the daily agenda at K-State appears fierce this summer, momentum builds daily across the Flint Hills. K-State is one of only five Power 4 teams to win at least nine games each of the last three seasons with at least one conference championship in that timeframe, joining Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Oregon. The Wildcats' three-straight seasons of at least nine wins are the most since an eight-year streak from 1993 to 2000. K-State capped last season with a thrilling 44-41 victory over Rutgers in the Rate Bowl. K-State trailed by as many as 17 points in the middle of the third quarter and by 13 points early in the fourth before it put together the largest bowl comeback win in school history.

How does K-State do it? Wells points to Klieman, and before him, Hall-of-Famer Bill Snyder.

"You don't go into Target and pick up all those banners that are hanging inside the indoor practice facility," Wells says. "Those are earned. It's been earned over two head coaches. That's a lot of consistent football at a high level in the Big 12 Conference. It's hard to win every Saturday. It's hard to win every year. It's even harder to repeat it and reset the standard and the culture amongst a bunch of humans — coaches, support staff and players. How Chris Klieman does it every year in resetting the standards of old-school, blue-collar, toughness, discipline, accountability, being selfless, being a great teammate with some new-school thoughts and ways of recovery and sports science and some unique practice thoughts to keep our guys healthy and fresh is very impressive. Oh, and we're also going to be the most physical team each and every Saturday. That's our goal, our want-to, our mantra, but just seeing everything behind the scenes and how Coach Klieman does it is probably what I've learned the most."

As for K-State potentially being considered one of the highest-regarded teams in the Big 12 this fall?

"The thing that's still out there for all of us to see and evaluate is the difference between a really good season and an elite season, and there have been a few elite seasons around here," Wells says. "I have the feeling we have the capabilities of doing that every year. Kansas State is going to be in the hunt for the championship in the month of November every single year. That's not recruiting talk, or a hope, or a wish — that's reality. The question is, will we make the plays at the critical times in the game when we don't have our A game, because if you make them, it creates momentum, and if you start to roll a little bit, maybe you play a B-game but you find a way to win. Then there's the injury factor — can you get a little lucky of not having too many injuries? That's the storyline for every single team in this league — everybody. But do I think we could be in Arlington? Absolutely.

"There's a lot of hard work and a lot of decisions that need to be made the right way, and there's a lot of opportunities we need to capitalize on between now and then."

K-State seemed to capitalize brilliantly in retaining a high percentage of its returning starters with remaining eligibility. In a new-look, precarious college football world in which player rosters can change by the week, and at times change significantly, the Wildcats haven't made headlines with player departures.

"That's because there's a realness to this staff," Wells says. "The players say 'keep it 100, keep it real,' and I think that's real. You're going to get real talk, truth, a tough love, a genuine love, and we're in the business of trying to take young men and developing them into grown men. A lot of players and families see that and feel that. I know this, I would pay for my son to be a walk-on if he had the opportunity to have a roster spot on this team. That's how much I believe in Chris Klieman and the staff around him and what everyone around K-State does for our players.

"The players and families for the most part feel that and know that. That's why they stay to play."

Within hours, the vacant leather couch in Wells' office will likely be occupied by arguably the most recognizable 6-foot-3, 196-pound, 20-year-old in the state of Kansas. Avery Johnson enters his junior season on the fringe of ranking top 10 in school history in virtually every all-time category for a quarterback. Last season, he threw for 2,712 yards and a school-record 25 touchdowns while adding 605 rushing yards. He joined Alabama's Jalen Milroe and Arkansas' Taylen Green as the only Power 4 quarterbacks to record 2,700 passing yards and 600 rushing yards.

Entering their second season together as coach and quarterback, the relationship between Wells and Johnson only continues to grow.

"We've got each other's backs," Wells says. "He knows I'm 100% all in, helping him chase his dreams, but he also knows there's a lot of it on him in terms of what he has to do in the 'unrequired,' whether it's gaining weight, gaining strength, his knowledge, his leadership in the locker room, in the player-led practices, all of that. What impresses me is just the leadership growth that has continued since the spring. We saw a big jump, as we were hoping, while his knowledge base continues to deepen within this offense, and his knowledge of him and his body, and release and mechanics, but it's just his ability to grow and not become complacent and having that growth mindset of how to be better tomorrow and next week.

"The challenge and the fight for him is between him and him — not against anybody else. It's his fight against complacency and also a fight that you don't need to be perfect, bro. He's a dude. When he gets inside those white lines, he thinks he's the best of the 22 players on the field, as he should. The confidence comes from all the preparation. That's what nobody knows — the depth of his preparation physically and mentally is some of the best I've ever been around."

Fair to believe that Johnson will be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 in 2025?

"That's easy — that's easily fair," Wells says. "When you run 23 miles per hour and can throw it well, and as I say that I think of ways for him to improve, and he has gotten faster, yeah, he's talented."

Johnson assuredly also has talent around him. Junior running back Dylan Edwards comes off a 196-yard rushing performance for Rate Bowl Offensive MVP honors and his 7.4 yards per rushing attempt last season ranked first among Power 4 running backs (minimum 70 carries). The 5-foot-9, 170-pounder played in 12 games with six starts, rushing for 546 yards and five touchdowns, serving as the ideal complement to 2025 NFL draftee DJ Giddens. Jayce Brown comes off a 47-reception, 823-yard, 5-touchdown campaign and was the seventh-fastest player in K-State history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards. The 6-foot, 179-pounder enters his junior season ranked fifth nationally among active players with a 17.0-yard average per catch (minimum 70 receptions) over the last two seasons. Junior tight end Garrett Oakley comes off an All-Big 12 Second Team season in which the 6-foot-5, 248-pounder had 22 catches for 236 yards while his five touchdown receptions tied for second-most in school history by a tight end. K-State tight ends led the nation with 13 touchdowns in 2024.

Wells is understandably eager for several newcomers, in particular, as well. That includes several wide receivers in junior Jaron Tibbs (Purdue), senior Jerand Bradley (Texas Tech and Boston College), senior Caleb Medford (New Mexico), and junior Jemyri Davis (Trinity Valley CC). It includes true freshman tight end Linkon Cure, a native of Goodland, Kansas, and the highest-rated signee in K-State history. It includes junior running back Antonio Martin Jr. (Southeastern Louisiana), and hulking 6-foot-5, 325-pound senior offensive lineman JB Nelson (Penn State), 6-5, 310-pound senior offensive linemen Terrence Enos Jr., (Pittsburgh) and 6-foot-6, 309-pound junior offensive lineman George Fitzpatrick (Ohio State), who has notably emerged as a leader.

"When you talk about newcomers, I think of Tibbs and JB, Linkon, Antonio Martin, JB Nelson, Terrence Enos Jr., and George Fitzpatrick," Wells says. "George has come in and been phenomenal since Day 1, and he was an immediate starter. I've been happy with Terrence and JB Nelson and their progress over the summer. It's hard for offensive linemen to come in at summer, and they're progressing well. Antonio Martin, I'm excited to see him in training camp and how physical of a runner he is and needs to be for us. Then we're integrating Linkon into the best tight end room in the country, in my opinion, and what's been cool is to see is those guys welcome him in with open arms. Those tight ends are all talented and returning with success at K-State. To see a guy who at some point will be the next, is cool to see in that tight end room. Those guys are awesome.

"There's Medford and Davis. Those guys are going to have to earn roles. As for JB and Tibbs, it's a matter of what kind of roles do they have on the field? Are they the deep-ball guy, the fade-route guy, the possession guy? Can they run reverses? How much touch game can they get on the perimeter? Who are they in terms of their skillset? Then there's Medford and Davis working to earn a role in terms of playing time and in terms of personnel groups, or whatever, but we're expecting production out of all of those guys I just mentioned. Every one of those guys need to produce at some level for us this fall for us to be a higher-end more-productive better offense. The newcomers all have to produce."

The days slowly funnel toward the start of training camp as the preparation for the fall rolls along.

"It all excites me," Wells says. "We've got some really good leadership this summer from our offensive line. We're always Kansas State tough up there. We've got the whole entire tight end room back and add a really talented piece to it in Linkon. We have playmakers on the perimeter and I really like our running backs. But how do we come together and support each other? The distribution of the touches and who gets it and how they get it is a challenge. Sometimes as a coach you can't dictate all of it and the defense dictates some of it. It's that game that you play where you play the game within the game during the week of getting the right stuff called and then adjusting on gameday and players making plays."

Two months until kickoff. Iowa State. Dublin, Ireland. The first game of college football. And Wells will take a seat the coaches booth at Aviva Stadium as K-State's offensive coordinator for the first time.

"I haven't thought about what it's going to feel like," he says. "I have thought about what it's going to look like, just visualizing that press box in the corner of the soccer stadium, and wondering and worrying about, 'Am I going to have the right vision up there?' But everybody has done it before me, so you'll be fine. But you're not in the middle of the field. That's probably too far into the weeds, but that's exactly what I think about. We'll see how it all transpires."

And after climbing into the coaches' booth, at some point, and hopefully early, the K-State offense, with Avery Johnson and all of the Wildcats' returning weapons, and with their bevy of newcomers, will take the field for the first time in 2025 against the Cyclones — an opponent they know quite well. This is how it will begin, this chess match, with Wells looking at his chart, calling the play through his headset, and watching Johnson and the Wildcats go to work.

The precious hours of the busiest summer of Wells' coaching career, which has included hours of film study, and diagramming, and finally training camp, will funnel into that initial 1^st and 10 play. K-State fans will be on their feet. Iowa State fans will be on their feet. Cheers will fill the 51,700-capacity stadium while millions of gridiron-starved TV viewers celebrate the return of football.

Does Wells know yet? Does he know the first play he will call against Iowa State?

Wells, sitting back in his office chair, leans forward.

A smile turns into an expressionless gaze.

He shoots a glance at the stack of papers upon his desk.

He looks dead-eyed into the eyes of the visitor.

And finally, he whispers one word.

"Maybe."