K-State Q&A: Avery Johnson, NIL money, football predictions and basketball recruits
Football season is upon us and a high-profile basketball recruit is about to begin a campus visit at Kansas State.
Seems like a good time for another K-State Q&A.
Let’s dive right into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
Does Avery Johnson play into the fourth quarter against UT Martin? How long do you expect the starters to play? -@bfullingt1 via X.
An over/under on how many quarters Avery Johnson plays against UT Martin would make for a pretty good prop bet.
It would almost certainly be set at 3.5.
And I would take the under at that number.
If Johnson is still playing in the fourth quarter then that is a bad sign for the Wildcats. They are favored by nearly 40 points against the Skyhawks. This game is supposed to be a blowout. There will be little reason for Chris Klieman to keep Johnson in the game if K-State is up big.
Backup quarterbacks have seen action in each of K-State’s past three games against FCS competition.
We got to see Avery Johnson for long stretches of the second half against SEMO last season. The season before that it was Jake Rubley against South Dakota. And the year before that it was Will Howard against Southern Illinois, though that had a lot to do with Skylar Thompson suffering an injury.
K-State coaches say that Ta’Quan Roberson and Jacob Knuth are deadlocked in a battle for the QB2 job. Even though I think Roberson is actually in the lead, you want to get at least one of the backup quarterbacks some game reps and you want to protect Johnson.
All bets are off if this turns out to be a close game. But I expect K-State to win easily. With that in mind, my expectation is for Johnson to play the first three quarters and then exit. That means we will see backups from that point on.
Which players are you most excited to watch in Game 1? - Jeff M. via e-mail.
In no particular order ...
Dylan Edwards: The Colorado transfer will make his debut in a purple uniform. How will the Wildcats deploy him out of the backfield? How good will he look on special teams? Our answers will finally be answered.
Brayden Loftin: Chris Klieman spoke extremely highly of the sophomore tight end earlier this week. I am suddenly intrigued.
Damian Ilalio: I’m picking the Manhattan native to have a breakout season on defense.
Avery Johnson: He’s always fun to watch.
Simon McClannan: The punter may not see much action in this game, but I do want to check out his leg.
Sterling Lockett: I won’t be surprised if he scores a touchdown.
As a sports reporter, and not a fan, what are you most looking forward to about football season getting underway? - Andrew B. via e-mail.
Mostly, I am just excited to write about real, live football again.
Training camp is a great time to get to know players and coaches. It is also a great opportunity to conduct fun interviews and write feature stories that I simply don’t have time to dive into during the regular season.
But you’re also writing about projections and things that might happen instead of actual results. After a while, that gets old. I’m tired of arguing about which teams might win the Big 12 this season. I’m ready to see some games and to write about all the wild stuff that happens during a football campaign.
I am also excited that the high on Saturday in Manhattan is only going to be 85 degrees. The first home football game of the year is usually an absolute scorcher. Let’s hope the weather gods continue to shine on this football season. No rain delays, please.
If Avery Johnson exceeds expectations and shows out through his career at K-State, how high do you think his NIL endorsements could be by the time he leaves? -@AdamMeyer35 via X.
There is little doubt he will leave K-State as a millionaire, if he isn’t one already.
More likely he will bid farewell to Manhattan as a millionaire several times over. I don’t feel comfortable throwing out an actual number for his potential earnings, but you can use your imagination.
Avery Johnson drives a lavender corvette, he eats high-priced steaks whenever he wants, athletic stores line up to give him shoes, he has his own logo and he sells his own apparel. One more thing: He shares an agent with Patrick Mahomes.
None of that even takes into account the K-State donors who send him money just for being on the football team.
His college football arrival came at an ideal time for NIL purposes. He committed to K-State expecting to earn around $1 million and his ceiling has done nothing but grow since then.
He is the poster child of K-State football endorsements, much like Mahomes is with the Chiefs.
Keeping Johnson happy will probably be K-State’s top priority during the offseason. He will get paid like a pro football player before he makes it to the NFL.
Can we land AJ Dybantsa? Or is this just a big tease? What’s more likely to happen, we get AJ to commit or a Whataburger arrives in Manhattan? -@ChadFullington via X.
Yes, K-State can absolutely win a recruiting battle for the No. 1 basketball prospect in the country.
No, AJ Dybantsa visiting campus this weekend is not some big tease.
I can understand why you ask those questions. After all, K-State hasn’t landed a five-star recruit in basketball since Wally Judge in 2009. But times are changing.
Jerome Tang convinced K-State donors to pay $2 million for Coleman Hawkins, and he averaged 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds for Illinois last season. I won’t be surprised if the Wildcats can come up with a more lucrative NIL deal for Dybantsa.
When you have that kind of money to throw around, you are going to be in the running with most recruits. The rise in NIL has leveled the playing field and given recruits a reason to listen to Tang when he calls. I think that is why you have seen three different five-star recruits schedule visits to Manhattan in the past year.
Now, is it a lock that Dybantsa will end up committing to K-State? Goodness no.
He is also considering Kansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Baylor, BYU and Auburn. They all have money and tradition and big-name coaches. He plans to visit them all. Nothing is imminent with his recruitment.
BYU is said to be the current front-runner, but who knows where things actually stand for the 6-foot-9 and 200-pound forward who plays for Utah Prep.
His father made it sound like NIL might be the deciding factor for Dybantsa’s recruitment when speaking with ZagsBlog. And he threw out some big numbers:
“Let me just give you an example. Say A.J.’s favorite school is Kentucky, for the sake of this argument. And Arkansas comes to us and says we have $10 million for you guys in NIL. Kentucky comes to us and says we only have $8 million for you. Guess where we’re going? We’re going to Kentucky. So just to tell you, yes, NIL is important. But it’s not the end of it.”
This figures to be a long and expensive recruitment. But K-State is definitely in the mix.
The odds of Manhattan getting a Whataburger are much longer.
This story was originally published August 30, 2024 at 10:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Avery Johnson, NIL money, football predictions and basketball recruits."