Drew takes a look at the quarterback position heading into the 2025-’26 season.
I’m sure by now you’ve noticed the pinned “roster reset” article that hasn’t seen any action in about a year. It’s a project I wanted to start last off-season, but I got smashed in a car wreck and spent the rest of the off-season trying to get my neck back to functioning (still an on-going process).
Anyways, the goal of this series of articles is to reset the Kansas State roster for the 2025-’26 season, and since quarterback is both the most important position in football and the easiest to reset for the Wildcats, I figure I’ll start with the quarterback.
Avery Johnson took over the reins from current National Championship winning quarterback Will Howard in 2024, and despite a couple nagging injuries throughout the season, managed to handle 99% of the snaps.
The staff hedged their bets in 2024, bringing in veteran signal caller Ta’Quan Roberson to fortify the quarterback room. Along with Roberson, Minnesota transfer Jacob Knuth saw action in two games.
Freshman quarterback Blake Barnett took a redshirt season and didn’t log any action.
Roberson was always going to be a 1-year rental as an Avery Johnson insurance policy. I assume he ended up being a rather pricey back-up, but I understand why the coaching staff brought him in to put some experience in the quarterback room. Ta’Quan is heading back to the northeast, where he’ll compete for the starting job at Buffalo as a 7th year senior.
Kansas State loses experience in the quarterback room with Roberson off to seek his fortune elsewhere but it’s hard to find a college team with an experienced back-up quarterback on the roster.
Like most Klieman quarterback recruits, Duff is a dual threat. He’s a late bloomer out of St. Louis, and didn’t start for his high school team until his junior season. He’s a winner, leading his DeSmet team to the 2024 Missouri 6A-State Championship, throwing for 121 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 69 yards on 8 carries, including 2 touchdowns. In addition to football, he also excelled on the hardwood where help DeSmet win a state championship in 2024 while earning all-conference and all-district accolades. He’ll need to work on throwing from the pocket at Kansas State but has the raw tools the coaching staff looks for in a quarterback.
Unless something unforeseen happens, expect Duff to redshirt.
I don’t think it’s premature to say that Avery Johnson has the starting job locked up for 2025. As a first-year starter in 2024, it was a mixed bag. He made some incredible plays and led K-State to a 9-4 record. He also threw some truly dreadful interceptions in those 4 losses. I’m not sure if the Wildcats failed to meet expectations in 2024, but they certainly didn’t exceed expectations. Johnson needs to improve his decision making and accuracy if the ‘Cats are going to win the Big 12 next season.
By the way, winning the Big 12 is the goal in 2025. Anything short of that should be considered a disappointment.
There are plenty of athletes behind Avery, but I have no idea what happens if he misses substantial time next season. I haven’t seen enough from Knuth or Barnett to evaluate their progress in the offense, but if Avery does go down, the Wildcats will probably lean heavily on the quarterback run game with both Knuth and Barnett well suited to handle that type of offense.
One potential spot for a quarterback to contribute without Avery going down is short yardage situations. Knuth and Barnett are big, beefy boys with plenty of power in their legs. If the coaching staff wants to limit hits to Johnson, using either back-up as a human battering ram in short yardage wouldn’t be the worst idea. I think you’re going to see more teams employing that strategy moving forward.
Overall
If you want to win big in the current iteration of college football, having an experienced quarterback is a great place to start. I anticipate Avery making a huge jump between his sophomore and junior year now that he has a season of experience under his belt. He learned what he can and can’t do at this level and now has an entire off-season to let those lessons sink in while he works on his occasionally poor footwork.
There isn’t much in terms of experience behind Avery, but the only way guys get experience is playing. Coach Klieman just added a National Championship winning quarterback to his long list of successful quarterbacks. Odds are one of the 3 players behind Avery is a baller. I hope to not find out which one of the 3 that is for at least another season, if not 2 seasons.
Step to winning big is finding a quarterback, and I think the Wildcats have found a quarterback.