Wichita (Kan.) Maize four-star junior quarterback and Arkansas 2023 recruiting target Avery Johnson and some of his 7-on-7 teammates are going on a tour of 12 colleges in 14 days ending with a stop in Fayetteville.
Johnson (6-3, 180) is taking full advantage of the NCAA allowing on-campus visits beginning June 1 as he and his DomX 7-on-7 teammates are going on what is being called the Beyond The Game Tour.
They’ll visit Florida State, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Houston, Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU, North Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Arkansas.
“It is going to start June 1 when I go to Kansas State, but that’s just going to just be me by myself,” Johnson said. “I’m flying out to Florida on June 3 and we are going to hang out there for a couple of days.
“Then we'll get on a bus, go to Florida State and then work our way back up and end things at Arkansas.”
Johnson, who was 117 of 207 passing for 2,109 yards and 15 touchdowns and added 10 scores rushing as a sophomore, has offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, TCU, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Washington State.
He believes he will learn a lot about the schools recruiting him on the campus tour.
“It is a big part because when you are talking to a coach on the phone, he might be different in person,” Johnson said. “You really want to see if the coach and the school is going to be a good fit for you or if it is not going to be a good fit for you.”
He hopes to have a decision made by the end of his junior year.
“I’ll go around and make a lot of notes and then when it comes time for me to start narrowing things down and nitpicking to see what school is best for me at the next level,” Johnson said.
He was surprised by the offer from Arkansas, who has linebackers coach Michael Scherer heading up Johnson’s recruitment.
“Whenever Arkansas hit me up and told me they wanted to talk to me, it caught me by surprise because I hadn’t talked to them before and didn’t know much about the school,” Johnson said. “But since then I have started to develop a really good relationship. I like Coach Scherer, and he is really cool to me.”
Johnson is also an outstanding baseball and basketball player, but football is his favorite sport.
“I just think there is nothing like playing on Friday nights and hopefully nothing will feel like playing on Saturday nights in college,” Johnson said.
His first offer was from TCU.
“It pretty much started back during basketball season when I got my first offer from TCU,” Johnson said. “Obviously I was super excited because that first offer is special and the hardest offer to get.
“I am just extremely blessed because I keep getting offers from other schools and it shows that your work is playing off. But you still have to keep working because everybody else is working just as hard."
Johnson also excels in the classroom with a 4.125 grade point average. He has never made anything but straight As.
“I know it starts in the classroom and you have to have good grades before you can even touch the field,” Johnson said. “I want to work on being a great student and a great person first as I work to be better quarterback on and off the field.”
Johnson is working to shore up his all-around game.
“I think my biggest strengths on the football field are being a leader and being able to get outside of the pocket and still make good throws,” Johnson said. “The biggest thing I am working on right now is trying to keep myself in the pocket and make the easy throws.
"You have got to be able to make the easy throws if you want to be a great quarterback.”