Here’s what Avery Johnson learned from his first turnover with Kansas State Wildcats

Kansas State coordinator Conor Riley only had one question about Avery Johnson as the sophomore quarterback prepared to take command of the team’s offense this season.

How will he handle mistakes?

“Contrary to public belief, it’s not all going to be rainbows and unicorns every single time,” Riley said in an interview last month. “Avery knows that. So when adversity strikes and when a mistake is made and something bad happens, how is he ultimately going to respond?”

The Wildcats got their first glimpse at an answer on Saturday when Johnson threw the first interception of his college career during a 41-6 victory over Tennessee-Martin.

As a freshman, Johnson completed 37 of 66 passes for 479 yards and five touchdowns without a single turnover. He was far from perfect, but he didn’t make a single big mistake while playing sparingly behind Will Howard. That changed over the weekend when Johnson connected on 14 of 21 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, but also tossed one interception.

UT Martin linebacker Chris Hunter came up with the pick thanks to a bad throw from Johnson. On the play, Johnson was trying to get the ball to DJ Giddens as he entered a soft spot in the Skyhawks’ zone defense. He was open, but Johnson didn’t put much air under the ball. Hunter was able to get in the way of a line-drive pass to create a turnover.

It was a disappointing moment for Johnson, but he is trying to use it as a learning experience.

“My eyes were where they were supposed to be.,” Johnson said. “The ball was just flat. I feel like if I could have layered it over that linebacker and got it to DJ, then the safety could not have made a play on it. But I wasn’t really too hard on myself for that, because that’s a throw that I’m going to be able to make as the season goes on. It was just a little flatter than it needed to be.”

That mistake happened late in the first quarter when the Wildcats were struggling to move the ball. They only scored points on one of their first four drives of the game.

But Johnson settled down and found a groove as the game went on. The Wildcats scored on five of their final six drives.

He handled his first interception like a veteran.

“I thought he did some really good things in the second half,” K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. “I know he probably wanted the (interception) back that he threw in the first half. But as we talked in fall camp, this is his second start and he made a mistake. Rather than sulk or worry about it, he went on to the next play and ... made some big time throws in the second half. Then he used his legs a couple of times. That really opened some things up. I know this, he’s going to continue to improve and get better.”