Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson understands the challenges.

He’s having his best season as a passer after being relegated as a playmaker who couldn’t pass the ball.

Johnson has 1,654 yards and 16 touchdowns at this point. It was a far cry from a year ago when he threw for just 479 yards and 5 TDs.

This year alone, he overcame a poor performance against BYU and a non-contact injury against Colorado.

Johnson attributes his team mentality, taking it one game at a time, as his guiding force for overcoming the inevitable challenges that come his way.

“I feel like he’s the biggest person you can have with a next-game mentality,” he said. “Because of my position, everyone’s eyes are always on me whether I want it or not, people feed off my energy. I always try to never have negative energy, I try to keep my head up because difficulties will hit you, bad things will happen, I will turn the ball over. Things won’t go the way we want. The most important thing is how can I learn from this, how can I react to these things and not take everything back in one game, take what the defense gives me in the next game and continue to trust myself and my game. “I can help the team as much as I can.”

Zachary Draves is a Kansas State Wildcats On SI contributor. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Instagram @zdraves0633.

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