Jayce Brown emerging as Kansas State’s best wide receiver of the Chris Klieman era

Jayce Brown was treated like a hero after he helped the Kansas State football team pull off a dramatic 31-28 victory at Colorado last weekend.

K-State fans lined up to congratulate the sophomore wide receiver for catching six passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns in a back-and-forth game that wasn’t over until Avery Johnson connected with Brown for a 50-yard touchdown strike late in the fourth quarter.

Brown was a big reason why the Wildcats beat the Buffaloes, and K-State supporters showed him love.

Even so, one could argue that his breakout game didn’t get as much attention as it deserved.

Here’s how good Brown was against Colorado: he became the first K-State wideout to top 100 receiving yards and to catch multiple touchdowns in a game since Byron Pringle ... in 2017.

Phillip Brooks, Malik Knowles, Kade Warner and Dalton Schoen all had big outings in recent years, but none of their stat lines was on the same level as what Brown accomplished against the Buffaloes. No K-State wide receiver has had a better game during the Chris Klieman era.

“He’s one of the best receivers in this league,” Johnson said, “and he’s going to continue to grow week in and week out. There’s nobody he’s scared of to line up against. That is Jayce’s biggest thing. His confidence is through the roof, and he shows that he can be a big-time player for us, week in and week out. We have got to continue to get in good situations and to get him the ball more.”

The Wildcats are hoping that Brown is just getting started.

K-State quarterbacks have leaned heavily on tight ends and running backs to boost the passing game in recent years, but Johnson may have found a true No. 1 wide receiver in Brown. The Florida native has 23 catches for 398 yards and three touchdowns this season. All of those stats lead the team.

And he has topped 50 receiving yards in all but one game.

Klieman is impressed by his consistency.

“I like the confidence in which he’s playing and and how fast he’s playing,” Klieman said. “We’re putting him in different spots and playing him in both 12 personnel and 11 personnel. We’re moving him around and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. Those two (Brown and Johnson) obviously have really good chemistry.”

That much was obvious on K-State’s final pass of the game at Colorado. As soon as Johnson realized that Brown was facing single-coverage on the perimeter he decided to throw a deep ball to his top receiver. Brown beat his man and zoomed downfield for a clutch touchdown catch.

Like any good WR1, the situation wasn’t too big for him.

“Ta’Quan (Roberson) came up to me and was like, ‘You live for moments like this,’” Brown said afterward. “That really got deep with me. I was like, ‘You really do.’ The crowd was really into it. I feel like I’ve been dreaming about this since I started playing football. So I feel like I was ready for the moment.”