Manning Wants to ‘Leave College Football with No Regrets’
Sep 14, 2026 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
It's January 27 and Josh Manning is gassed as he recalls his first weight and conditioning session under strength and conditioning coach Jeremy Jacobs and his first set of sprints and his first session of route running across the vast practice field at Kansas State. Yes, everything appears new at the football program of which he's very familiar, the school Manning almost joined in 2022 before the native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, chose to stay close to home and begin his college football career with the Tigers.
Manning, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound senior wide receiver, so close to K-State senior quarterback Avery Johnson throughout their youth, decommitted from K-State to play at Missouri, yet finds himself smiling in recalling January 17 when he opened the doors to the Vanier Family Football Complex for the first time as a member of the K-State football team.
Little does Manning know — there will be many more firsts during the final season of his college football career.
"There was something in the back of my mind saying, 'What if things were different and I went to K-State?'" Manning says. "I just want to leave college football with no regrets."
Manning steadily emerged as a contributor for the Tigers. He had 24 catches for 510 yards and three touchdowns over his three seasons at Missouri, and he finished fourth on the team with 29 catches for 318 yards and two touchdowns in 2025.
His best game? He had a career-high five catches for 63 yards as Missouri stormed back to beat Auburn, 23-17, in double-overtime to silence the crowd of 88,043 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 18, 2025.
"I'm a playmaker and I'm explosive and I love the big plays," Manning says. "At the end of the day, I just want to win. That's all I want to do, is just win."
Through his first two games at K-State, the Wildcats are winning — and Manning is winning, too. He smiled during his first postgame interview following the Wildcats' 34-7 win over Washington State on Saturday. Unlike his previous best performance at Auburn last October in which his performance silenced a sellout crowd, the Johnson-to-Manning connection brought to life the sellout crowd of 51,759 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Manning had a career-high five catches against Auburn last season.
On Saturday, he had four catches during K-State's first possession alone against Washington State.
"It was great," Manning says into the cameras during his postgame interviews on Saturday. "It was definitely a weight that got lifted off my chest, for sure. It was a long time coming, Yep, for sure."
Manning had the best game of his college career against Washington State with 10 catches on 12 targets for 97 yards, including 61 yards after the catch, and he caught one touchdown — the first touchdown by either team in the game — when Johnson found him as he ran right-to-left near the front of the end zone against Washington State's zone defense.
A young man with few words after the game assuredly let his play do the talking — and he had K-State head coach Collin Klein, the mastermind of one of the top-20 offenses in the FBS so far in 2026, talking as well.
Manning, who spent two months learning Klein's offense and the terminology that goes along with it, has come a long way since his arrival to the Little Apple in January.
"I've appreciated his work ethic," Klein says. "I've appreciated his approach. He's been a great teammate. He's put his head down, and he's earned everything he's gotten, and to see that materialize on the field in a game, I'm really happy for him.
"He's got good length. I think sometimes because he's a tall, long kid, he doesn't look like he's running fast, but he's got a better top end and runs better than people probably give him credit for. He's been sure handed for us and has a good feel for where to sit in zone coverage and get open. He's done a good job."
Coupled with his three-catch, 33-yard, one-touchdown performance in the Wildcats' season-opening 71-3 win over Nicholls, Manning has 13 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns in his first two games in Manhattan. He is tied for sixth in the Big 12 Conference and 22nd nationally with 6.5 receptions per game.
As Johnson puts it: "Josh has come out with fire."
Klein served as K-State offensive coordinator in 2022 and played a part in Manning's high school recruiting process alongside Johnson. Manning, a four-star recruit and the No. 38-rated wide receiver nationally by 247Sports, and Johnson, the top-rated dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals, became fast friends on the visit to K-State and dreamed about the possibilities if they were teammates someday.
Those dreams seem to be beginning to materialize.
Manning hit up Johnson on FaceTime after his visit to K-State in January to reveal his announcement.
"I'm so glad we were able to keep our relationship," Manning says. "When I was getting ready to leave my visit to K-State in January, I was like, 'This is the place I want to be.' I FaceTimed Avery. I told him, and it was amazing how big he was smiling. He's excited that we're going to do things right the second time."
Scoring touchdowns began at an early age for Manning, who describes himself as that elementary school kid who nobody could catch. He possessed hands and sprinters speed at an early age, and athleticism pumped through his veins. His father, Brian Manning, was a standout wide receiver at Stanford and played for the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, while his mother, Roxanne, was a basketball player at Arkansas and Colorado State.
"Football? I grew into it," Manning says. "I was around it at a young age. I began playing wide receiver my freshman year in high school. I liked it because I was on the outside, on an island, and usually only had one or two guys to beat. From an early age, I knew I was really good at football.
"I always knew I had a chance."
He seems to be making the most of his chance at K-State.
"Josh just has a knack for finding the holes in the defense, and I think he did a really good job with that against Washington State," Johnson says. "Then just throwing him the ball on the perimeter on some key routes and stuff like that, he did a really good job of being able to make the first guy miss or step out of tackles and pick their defense apart that way, which made them have to change some things up as we progressed in the game.
"But he's growing. He's a big target with a big catch radius, so I love throwing the ball his way. He comes down with it 99% of the time, and then even his most impressive catch of the day was the comeback throw on the sideline that I left a little bit too far out of bounds. I know he didn't get a foot down, but like if you saw it from my angle, him being able to reach his arms out and just be able to catch that ball was amazing from a quarterback's perspective."
Manning envisioned performances like the first two that he's experienced as a member of a talented K-State team.
"I just feel like we put in so much work," Manning says. "We're seeing the work pay off. We're all so close. It's amazing. We've been putting in work since January. Definitely no surprises at all."
Except for that first possession against Washington State.
Remember, Manning had never caught more than five passes in a game.
Against Washington State, he caught a 7-yard pass from Johnson on the game's first play from scrimmage. In fact, he caught four passes on the Wildcats' first eight plays from scrimmage in Saturday's game.
Remarkable.
"Obviously, I wasn't expecting that," Manning says after the game. "I was just trying to get open, honestly."
He's assuredly captured the eye of Johnson, his longtime friend whose turned into one of the finest quarterbacks in K-State history.
The two share a history.
Now standing in the present, they envision an explosive future together in helping lead the Wildcats to success in the fall.
"We're just going to continue to build off of this," Johnson says. "Josh played really well today."
Manning thinks back to January 17, the day that this really officially began, when he walked through the doors of Vanier for the first time as a member of the K-State football team. So many thoughts must've been running through Manning's head as his hand touched the handle to pull open the huge glass double doors. But in the end, it came down to this, the start of a dream, and the beginning of seemingly boundless possibilities.
"I was thinking this was a long time coming," Manning says. "Walking through the Vanier doors in January, that was it. It was a long time coming."
It's January 27 and Josh Manning is gassed as he recalls his first weight and conditioning session under strength and conditioning coach Jeremy Jacobs and his first set of sprints and his first session of route running across the vast practice field at Kansas State. Yes, everything appears new at the football program of which he's very familiar, the school Manning almost joined in 2022 before the native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, chose to stay close to home and begin his college football career with the Tigers.
Manning, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound senior wide receiver, so close to K-State senior quarterback Avery Johnson throughout their youth, decommitted from K-State to play at Missouri, yet finds himself smiling in recalling January 17 when he opened the doors to the Vanier Family Football Complex for the first time as a member of the K-State football team.
Little does Manning know — there will be many more firsts during the final season of his college football career.
"There was something in the back of my mind saying, 'What if things were different and I went to K-State?'" Manning says. "I just want to leave college football with no regrets."
Manning steadily emerged as a contributor for the Tigers. He had 24 catches for 510 yards and three touchdowns over his three seasons at Missouri, and he finished fourth on the team with 29 catches for 318 yards and two touchdowns in 2025.
His best game? He had a career-high five catches for 63 yards as Missouri stormed back to beat Auburn, 23-17, in double-overtime to silence the crowd of 88,043 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 18, 2025.
"I'm a playmaker and I'm explosive and I love the big plays," Manning says. "At the end of the day, I just want to win. That's all I want to do, is just win."
Through his first two games at K-State, the Wildcats are winning — and Manning is winning, too. He smiled during his first postgame interview following the Wildcats' 34-7 win over Washington State on Saturday. Unlike his previous best performance at Auburn last October in which his performance silenced a sellout crowd, the Johnson-to-Manning connection brought to life the sellout crowd of 51,759 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Manning had a career-high five catches against Auburn last season.
On Saturday, he had four catches during K-State's first possession alone against Washington State.
"It was great," Manning says into the cameras during his postgame interviews on Saturday. "It was definitely a weight that got lifted off my chest, for sure. It was a long time coming, Yep, for sure."
Manning had the best game of his college career against Washington State with 10 catches on 12 targets for 97 yards, including 61 yards after the catch, and he caught one touchdown — the first touchdown by either team in the game — when Johnson found him as he ran right-to-left near the front of the end zone against Washington State's zone defense.
A young man with few words after the game assuredly let his play do the talking — and he had K-State head coach Collin Klein, the mastermind of one of the top-20 offenses in the FBS so far in 2026, talking as well.
Manning, who spent two months learning Klein's offense and the terminology that goes along with it, has come a long way since his arrival to the Little Apple in January.
"I've appreciated his work ethic," Klein says. "I've appreciated his approach. He's been a great teammate. He's put his head down, and he's earned everything he's gotten, and to see that materialize on the field in a game, I'm really happy for him.
"He's got good length. I think sometimes because he's a tall, long kid, he doesn't look like he's running fast, but he's got a better top end and runs better than people probably give him credit for. He's been sure handed for us and has a good feel for where to sit in zone coverage and get open. He's done a good job."
Coupled with his three-catch, 33-yard, one-touchdown performance in the Wildcats' season-opening 71-3 win over Nicholls, Manning has 13 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns in his first two games in Manhattan. He is tied for sixth in the Big 12 Conference and 22nd nationally with 6.5 receptions per game.
As Johnson puts it: "Josh has come out with fire."
Klein served as K-State offensive coordinator in 2022 and played a part in Manning's high school recruiting process alongside Johnson. Manning, a four-star recruit and the No. 38-rated wide receiver nationally by 247Sports, and Johnson, the top-rated dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals, became fast friends on the visit to K-State and dreamed about the possibilities if they were teammates someday.
Those dreams seem to be beginning to materialize.
Manning hit up Johnson on FaceTime after his visit to K-State in January to reveal his announcement.
"I'm so glad we were able to keep our relationship," Manning says. "When I was getting ready to leave my visit to K-State in January, I was like, 'This is the place I want to be.' I FaceTimed Avery. I told him, and it was amazing how big he was smiling. He's excited that we're going to do things right the second time."
Scoring touchdowns began at an early age for Manning, who describes himself as that elementary school kid who nobody could catch. He possessed hands and sprinters speed at an early age, and athleticism pumped through his veins. His father, Brian Manning, was a standout wide receiver at Stanford and played for the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, while his mother, Roxanne, was a basketball player at Arkansas and Colorado State.
"Football? I grew into it," Manning says. "I was around it at a young age. I began playing wide receiver my freshman year in high school. I liked it because I was on the outside, on an island, and usually only had one or two guys to beat. From an early age, I knew I was really good at football.
"I always knew I had a chance."
He seems to be making the most of his chance at K-State.
"Josh just has a knack for finding the holes in the defense, and I think he did a really good job with that against Washington State," Johnson says. "Then just throwing him the ball on the perimeter on some key routes and stuff like that, he did a really good job of being able to make the first guy miss or step out of tackles and pick their defense apart that way, which made them have to change some things up as we progressed in the game.
"But he's growing. He's a big target with a big catch radius, so I love throwing the ball his way. He comes down with it 99% of the time, and then even his most impressive catch of the day was the comeback throw on the sideline that I left a little bit too far out of bounds. I know he didn't get a foot down, but like if you saw it from my angle, him being able to reach his arms out and just be able to catch that ball was amazing from a quarterback's perspective."
Manning envisioned performances like the first two that he's experienced as a member of a talented K-State team.
"I just feel like we put in so much work," Manning says. "We're seeing the work pay off. We're all so close. It's amazing. We've been putting in work since January. Definitely no surprises at all."
Except for that first possession against Washington State.
Remember, Manning had never caught more than five passes in a game.
Against Washington State, he caught a 7-yard pass from Johnson on the game's first play from scrimmage. In fact, he caught four passes on the Wildcats' first eight plays from scrimmage in Saturday's game.
Remarkable.
"Obviously, I wasn't expecting that," Manning says after the game. "I was just trying to get open, honestly."
He's assuredly captured the eye of Johnson, his longtime friend whose turned into one of the finest quarterbacks in K-State history.
The two share a history.
Now standing in the present, they envision an explosive future together in helping lead the Wildcats to success in the fall.
"We're just going to continue to build off of this," Johnson says. "Josh played really well today."
Manning thinks back to January 17, the day that this really officially began, when he walked through the doors of Vanier for the first time as a member of the K-State football team. So many thoughts must've been running through Manning's head as his hand touched the handle to pull open the huge glass double doors. But in the end, it came down to this, the start of a dream, and the beginning of seemingly boundless possibilities.
"I was thinking this was a long time coming," Manning says. "Walking through the Vanier doors in January, that was it. It was a long time coming."
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