BYU special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach Kelly Poppinga has waged his battles against elite quarterbacks in the past.
When he was on Virginia’s staff, he was charged with game planning against then-Louisville star Lamar Jackson. The future NFL MVP was one of the most dynamic players in the sport — winning a Heisman trophy as he accounted for over 9,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards.
Now, Poppinga believes BYU will face a similar test this week when Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson comes to town.
“He’s a special athlete. You know, I was at the University of Virginia and played against Lamar Jackson a few different times. I feel like this guy is as special of an athlete as that guy is,” Poppinga said.
He continued, “It will be a major challenge for our defense and our team to stop this guy, especially running. He knows how to extend plays, knows how to do the zone-read. Throws the ball well enough to make some plays down the field.”
Johnson has been heralded as one of the best young players in the nation. Kansas State kicked its veteran quarterback, Will Howard, to the curb last offseason in favor of starting its second-year leader; Johnson was named to the Maxwell Award watch list in July.
So far this year, Johnson’s tallied over 490 yards passing and 200 yards rushing. Against Arizona a week ago, he had 156 yards through the air and 110 on the ground.
His skillset might be a perfect storm for a BYU defense that’s struggled to stop the quarterback ground attack at times. Defensive coordinator Jay Hill compared Johnson to SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings.
“He reminds me a lot of the SMU quarterback we just faced. He was a good thrower, good athleticism, could run the ball,” Hill said. “I thought we did a pretty good job containing him. We got the same challenges this week. Avery Johnson can run it. He can throw it.”
The Cougars held Jennings to under 40 yards rushing, but he got away several times to extend plays.
Hill anticipates he will put more than just a spy on Johnson to contain the rushing attack. Instead, he will try to confuse the younger quarterback with an array of looks throughout the game.
“The quarterback is a very, very good athlete,” Hill said. “We are going to use a lot of different things with him. There are going to be times we do some spying. There’s going to be some times when we try to bring pressure to keep him on his toes. Coverage, to keep him on his toes. There’s going to be a lot of different things that we use.”
