Kansas State football quarterback Avery Johnson's maturity shines through in bowl victory

ORLANDO, Fla. — Avery Johnson won the Pop-Tarts Bowl's most valuable player award for the plays he made, both with his arm and his legs.

But what impressed Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman just as much about his true freshman quarterback's performance in the 28-19 victory over North Carolina State on Thursday night at Camping World Stadium was some of the plays he didn't make.

Yes, Johnson threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns, including an 11-yard clincher to fellow freshman Jayce Brown with 2:48 left, and he ran for 71 yards and another score that put the Wildcats up 21-7 late in the first half. Yet he also kept his cool under fire when there was no play to be made.

"We didn't turn the ball over. That was a huge thing," Klieman said. "Some of those times, a young player might force a throw when he's scrambling and doesn't see anybody open. He just said, 'You know what, I'll throw it away.'

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"The No. 1 stat that we look for is, did you win the game? So, I know he was 14 of 31 (passing), but he threw the ball away and avoided a number of sacks or lost yards, and you know what? He's 1-0 as a starting quarterback, and that's the No. 1 stat that we look at, and he helped us win it."

Johnson may have completed fewer than 50% of his passes, but he still had at least three completions of 20-plus yards, including a 37-yarder to running back DJ Giddens on the game's opening drive. And he did it without forcing the issue.

"At the end of the day, if there's nothing available, you have to throw the ball away," Johnson said. "I just tried to be smart with the football today and tried not to turn it over, but at the same time just cut it loose and play a little bit, because you can't play conservative with the football."

During his seven regular-season appearances as Will Howard's backup, including a 90-yard, five-touchdown rushing performance in leading the Wildcats to a comeback victory at Texas Tech, Johnson had done most of his damage in the quarterback run game. But after Howard entered the transfer portal and two backups followed him, Klieman and interim offensive coordinator didn't have that luxury against North Carolina State.

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"We were really smart with Avery," Klieman said. "He was the only guy we really felt comfortable and confident with to be able to step up and play tonight, and so we weren't going to just run the guy 20 times.

"We wanted to showcase his arm, showcase his ability."

Johnson also showed a grasp of the offense beyond his years. On both the opening touchdown to Giddens on fourth down and 5, and the final one to Brown that put the game out of reach, he checked the plays at the line of scrimmage.

"That touchdown pass to DJ, we had worked that, and we hadn't done that all year," Klieman said. "But to make that play and to see everybody coming at you, and DJ kind of sidestepped the last blitzer, that's Football 401 done by a true freshman.

"He made big-time play after big-time play. He made the check on the last touchdown, throwing it to Jayce. He saw the look. How many young kids are going to say, 'No, I'm not going to change it right now,' and throw a great dime to him?"

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The final scoring drive covered 72 yards in 15 plays and took nearly 7 1/2 minutes off the clock.

If Johnson had any nerves for his first start, they didn't show.

"I just try to carry myself with confidence throughout everything that I do, and credit to my dad always for making sure I'm confident in myself," Johnson said. "When you have teammates and coaches and players around you that are confident in your ability, it just ultimately makes my job easier. So, credit to them for making my job easy today."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football quarterback Avery Johnson's maturity shows