Braydon Johnson Is Prepared for an Increased Role in 2020
STILLWATER – One of the more exciting players to come on towards the end of the 2019 season for Oklahoma State was outside receiver Braydon Johnson. He caught 23 passes for 491 yards and four touchdowns, but nearly half of his yards and half of his touchdowns came in the final two games of the season.
He brought down four catches for 77 yards against Oklahoma and five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the Texas Bowl against Texas A&M.
"Man, I was very excited,” Johnson said. “I feel like that boosted my confidence a lot, just making those plays during the end of the year. I was just ready to put in work with my team and just get better and get them better; lead them so we could all come together and get a Big 12 Championship."
Johnson was the third-leading receiver for the Cowboys in 2019 in both yards and touchdowns and was the leading receiver on the team when it came to yards per reception, 21.3 yards.
He does, however, have some competition at the position in Dee Anderson and Tay Martin. Anderson, at 6-6, 229-pounds, transferred in from LSU during the spring and Martin, 6-3, 186-pounds, transferred into the program in August from Washington State.
Anderson sat out all of last year for the Tigers for violation of team rules, but Martin appeared in all 13 games this past season for the Cougars. He caught 43 passes for 564 yards and 13 touchdowns. He brings height and experience to the position, but Johnson proved over the last few games of the 2019 season and over the offseason with the extra work that he’s ready to start.
Related: Game time for Oklahoma State's season opener against Tulsa has been announced.
"I'd say my biggest focus was my releases and just practicing catching the deep ball, because I feel like that's my strong suit,” Johnson said. “Those are my two main focuses. Over the offseason I've learned a lot more from just being in the meetings and [from] coach [Kasey] Dunn. It's coming along very well."
The deep ball is definitely one of Johnson's strong suits. One of the reasons he's so prolific down the field is he's one of, if not the fastest guy on the field.
While we asked this question in April of 2019, I'm pretty sure the same still applies.
"Braydon Johnson is probably the fastest guy," Gundy answered looking around as if surveying to see if he could find anybody faster. "I'm sure I'd miss somebody and somebody would be on me tomorrow because they said I missed somebody that's faster. Braydon Johnson, oh Chuba, Chuba Hubbard is really fast. In a forty, I'm just guessing it would be Braydon (Johnson) and if they went to 100 (yards or meters) it would be Chuba (Hubbard)."
The Cowboys get the season started against Tulsa in Stillwater on Sept. 12 at 6:30 p.m. CT with the game being televised on either ESPN or ESPNU.
