The Kansas State Wildcats offense is hoping to duplicate what it did on the ground and improve on what it did in the air in 2024.
Here was how the Kansas State offense ranked last season in FBS:
Points per game: 30.8 (No. 46)
Rushing yards per game: 215.5 (No. 11)
Passing yards per game: 211.4 (No. 85)
Total yards per game: 426.8 (Tied for No. 21).
Kansas State has several key players back at the right positions to give the Wildcats a shot at winning the Big 12 for the second time in four seasons.
Here are three offensive players to keep an eye on for the Kansas State Wildcats.
QB Avery Johnson
It seems like he’s been around forever, but Johnson is just a true junior and NFL Draft-eligible after this season. He’s unlikely to declare early. He still has areas to improve. But this could be a chance for him to take a huge jump.
Last season, he started every game, throwing for 2,712 yards and a school-record 25 touchdowns on 217-of-372 (58.3%) attempts while adding 605 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 113 carries.
It’s that completion percentage that the Wildcats would love to see him boost going into 2025. Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, who led the Sun Devils to a Big 12 crown, completed 61.7% of his passes.
If that sort of improvement for Johnson gets the Wildcats to Arlington and the Big 12 title game, they’ll take it.
RB Dylan Edwards
With D.J. Giddens now in the NFL, Edwards now has the chance to be the primary back in an offense that loves to run the ball.
After transferring in from Colorado, where he spent his freshman season, Edwards started in six of the 12 games he played, rushing for 546 yards and five touchdowns on 74 carries. He also caught 19 passes for 133 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He did enough to get votes for the Big 12 offensive newcomer of the year award.
He carried the load in the Rate Bowl and was named the game’s offensive MVP after he rushed for a career high 196 yards and two touchdowns.
What’s next? A full-time role and, Kansas State hopes, a 1,000-yard rushing season.
WR Jayce Brown
What’s the best thing for a returning quarterback? A returning wide receiver who is coming off a productive season. In that respect, Johnson should be carting Brown around in his lavender Corvette. Or is that not a thing anymore?
Brown is the perfect receiver for Johnson to have in his corner — and the pair are growing together. The rising junior started 12 games and led the Wildcats with 47 receptions for 823 yards and five touchdowns. The yardage was the most for a Wildcat since Tyler Lockett in 2014 and was the most in school history by a sophomore.
Lockett is in great company in the context of K-State history. Brown was the seventh-fastest player to reach 1,000 receiving yards in program history.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
