Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson is joining the club.
Several opposing quarterbacks have rolled through Provo and found their experience to be unexpected.
On Monday, Johnson called his experience “weird.”
But he meant that in a good way.
“That was probably one of the weirdest environments I’ve been a part of. It was like their fans were encouraging almost,” Johnson told The Wichita Eagle. “Most of the time the fans try to heckle you or say bad things about you before the game. But all their fans were encouraging. It was just a different environment to be in.”
He continued, “After the game people were saying, ‘Good job’ or ‘Keep your heads up.’ It was just weird, because fans don’t say that after the game, especially after they beat you like that. Definitely something I have never been a part of and never experienced. I probably won’t experience something like that again.”
Kansas State fans also took notice.
The BYU band played Kansas State’s fight song and gave opposing fans ice cream.
And BYU fans pulled out an extra stop for Johnson on Saturday, giving heavily to his fundraising campaign to help his ailing high school principal.
Before the BYU game, Johnson announced he was raising money to help pay for Chris Botts’ stage 4 cancer treatments. With every touchdown, fans would give to Botts.
Johnson didn’t have a touchdown in a 38-9 loss, but BYU fans helped make up the rest, he said. The goal was to raise $20,000, and BYU fans surpassed that mark by almost $10,000.
“The fact that you want to do this for me, I don’t even know what to say. It touches my heart,” Botts said of Johnson’s initial pledge.
Johnson thanked BYU fans for their donations.
“It just goes to show that there’s a lot of great people in this world,” Johnson said. “It’s bigger than football.”
