With the commitment of Armando Allen last week and the recruiting of Robert Hughes and Golden Tate at running back, a name that’s been lost in running back recruiting for Notre Dame this year is Joe McKnight, but according to Allen Wallace of SuperPrep, the Irish are among his five favorites…
“Notre Dame fits that description,” McKnight said. “It means a lot to go there and they are used to winning games. They’ve been improving every year under coach Charlie Weis. I also really like their offensive coordinator (Michael Haywood). He’s the coach recruiting me.” (LINK)
McKnight is a five star recruit and would me a major addition to this class if Weis could secure his commitment. Robert Hughes has been on Notre Dame fans’ radars for months and despite some positive reports on Hughes’ visit to Notre Dame last weekend, there are still some who think Illinois has the inside track so being in on a recruit as talented as McKnight is huge for the Irish.
McKnight a a very versatile athlete who could play a number of positions for the Irish – running back, wide receiver, or safety. Even if Notre Dame does secure a commitment from Hughes at the All American bowl, look for the Irish to continue to recruit McKnight as long as there is interest from the talented back.
On a side note, its nice to see a recruit mention Haywood by name in a report a like this. Haywood has historically been a great recruiter, but there haven’t been too many recruits who have made mention of him in reports like this one. Haywood’s track record with running backs has to help recruiting an athlete like this as well.
Since not much attention has been paid to McKnight over the last couple months on the board, we’re going to play some catch up here, but here’s some good quotes on McKnight.
The Times-Picayune – December 9, 2006
Against St. Charles he ran for 59 yards and two touchdowns on six carries, caught a couple of passes for 18 yards, returned a kickoff for 29 yards and would’ve returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown — displaying a jaw-dropping combination of speed, power, elusiveness and desire along the way — if the Patriots hadn’t been penalized for holding on the return.
“I was pretty disappointed,” McKnight said, smiling. “That was my best punt return all year. Not many people have been kicking to me.”
Do you blame them?
If the punt return had stood, it would’ve been three touchdowns on 10 touches for McKnight. And as impressive as that percentage would’ve been, it probably was right along the lines of what he averaged during his senior season, which culminated in Curtis’ 21st state championship. (LINK)
USA Today – December 8, 2006
No. 2 John Curtis of River Ridge, La., coasted to its third straight state championship Friday, beating St. Charles Catholic 41-7 in the Louisiana Superdome for the state’s Class 2A title. (LINK)
The Shreveport Times – November 25, 2006
McKnight scored three touchdowns on only six touches, including a 37-yard punt return, and Seeman rushed for 84 yards and another score to send the Patriots past Homer, 47-6, in their Class 2A quarterfinal playoff matchup Friday night.
McKnight fielded the punt at the Homer 37, sidestepped a tackler and burst through traffic to give Curtis a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
He scored again just before the end of the quarter, this time on a 26-yard sweep where he simply outran Homer’s defenders to the sideline. McKnight virtually skipped into the end zone, quieting a previously rowdy crowd of about 7,000. (LINK)
The Shreveport Times – November 23, 2006
Joe McKnight is a running back. He averaged 16.5 yards per attempt in John Curtis’ first 10 games this high school football season.
Joe McKnight is a wide receiver. He averaged 36.1 yards per reception in the same period of time for the Patriots.
Joe McKnight is a defensive back. He had a pivotal fourth-quarter interception in Curtis’ 28-14 win over previously No. 1-ranked Hoover (Ala.)
Joe McKnight is all of the above. He is also the state’s top recruiting prospect and he leads Curtis (11-0) into Homer on Friday night in a Class 2A quarterfinal playoff game. (LINK)
ESPN – November 17, 2006
McKnight (6-0, 190) only gets a few touches per game and is used almost as a decoy in his high school offense. John Curtis Christian runs a veer-option attack that regularly utilizes two or three backs, and by motioning McKnight around, it opens up a lot of space for the other ballcarriers. When he does get the ball, he produces — he has 19 touchdowns through 10 games this season, including one on a kick return, while carrying the ball just 37 times and making 14 receptions. (LINK)
Scout.com’s Jeremy Patterson informed us Thursday night that Super Southern 100 tailback Joe McKnight has tweaked his top three. Originally, the River Ridge, La., star had planned to visit Notre Dame, LSU and Southern Cal, the top three schools he was considering. But McKnight has eliminated Notre Dame from consideration and added Ole Miss to his list of finalists.
Patterson says McKnight, Louisiana’s newly crowed Mr. Football, will visit Ole Miss on Jan. 12, Southern Cal on Jan. 19 and LSU on Jan. 26.
Hmm…I could have swore Marshall Faulk did pretty well at San Diego State.
Ever here the family name of Manning? You might have heard of them. Peyton? Eli?? New Orleans natives as I recall.
Joseph McKnight,
I suggest that since all the nation, the world even, hears is how great Notre Dame, U. S. C. , Michigan, tO. S. U. (the most over rated) actually are that they need lo leave L. S. U. ‘S home grown talent alone!
NO LOUISIANA NATIVE WHO HAS LEFT THE STATE HAS DONE WELL WITH ANOTHER SCHOOL IN FOOTBALL HISTORY. WE ARE A UNIQUE CULTURE AND WORK WITHIN OUR CONFINES BEST. (NOTRE DAME IS IN PARIS, FRANCE NOT SOUTH BEND! I’VE BEEN THERE! LOUISIANA IS FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC! NOW BUZZ OFF!!)
On another recruiting note, I read where OL Taylor Dever from CA committed yesterday to the IRISH. That’s 15 commitments.
My bad, you’re right. Hughes is the kid from Chicago that I was thinking about, not McKnight. At this point, let’s just get one of ’em.
Do you mean that Hughes is Illinois bound? McKnight is not considering Illinois, but Hughes is strongly considering them and just visited them this past weekend.
If ND misses on Hughes, they could put on the full court press for McKnight. Even if they do land Hughes, I would expect Weis to go after McKnight hard.
I hope Frank’s correct, but reading all of McKnight’s comments lead me to believe that he is Illinois bound. I mean he considers the Illini’s RB coach a father figure who he can go to for tough decisions. Gotta hand it to Ron Zook…the guy can recruit (just ask Urban Meyer).