Trevor Knight a Cool Customer in Front of the Media
By Chip Rouse
If leadership and poise are key attributes of a major college quarterback, Trevor Knight has a couple of sure check marks in his column in the battle for the Oklahoma starting quarterback job for the 2015 season.
Knight was one of four Sooner players who accompanied head coach Bob Stoops for the 2015 version of Big 12 Media Days on Monday and Tuesday this week in Dallas.
Jul 21, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Trevor Knight speaks to the media during the Big 12 Media Days at Omni Dallas. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
The redshirt junior from San Antonio is in a three-way battle with Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield and sophomore Cody Thomas at the QB spot for the Sooners to start the new season.
In previous years when the quarterback position wasn’t clearly defined, Stoops has not brought along a quarterback to Big 12 Media Days, not wanting to subject anyone in that position to extra stress and strain from having to address media questions. The OU head coach did not appear to have those concerns when it came to bringing Knight along this year.
“He’s a smart young man, he’s a great leader, no one works harder than him and (is more) respected on our team,” Stoops told Ryan Aber, OU beat writer for the Oklahoma City Oklahoman newspaper this week.
“He understands that he hasn’t earned the job yet…but he’s a leader in our locker room. He exemplifies everything you want in a program and a student athlete – so just because we don’t know if he’s going to start or not, why wouldn’t he be here?”
Knight didn’t back away from any of the questions about the quarterback situation or the disappointing 2014 season. He was calm and collected and handled himself with the same confidence with which he approaches his job when he is at the quarterback position for the Sooners.
“He’s the type of guy you want doing these interviews. He’s good at it. You’re not going to back him into a corner.” —Ty Darlington, about his teammate Trevor Knight
His poise with reporters at Big 12 Media Days also caught the attention of teammate Ty Darlington, who was one of the OU players who attended the event along with Stoops, but it didn’t necessarily surprise him.
“You can say what you want about his on-the-field play or whatever you want to say about him,” Darlington said to the Oklahoman’s Aber, but the way he’s represented this university is beyond reproach. “He’s the type of guy you want doing these interviews. Secondly, he’s good at it. You’re not going to back him into a corner.”
Knight, who forever will be remembered for the career game he had against highly favored Alabama (32 of 44 passing for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns) in OU’s stunning upset of the Crimson Tide in the 2014 Sugar Bowl, is of the mindset that if you do what you can to help make the team better as a whole, the playing time will naturally come.
In an article in the Wednesday editions of the Dallas Morning News, Knight was quoted as saying, “I feel like, if you’re going to be a good teammate, you’re going to have the chance to play anyways. Especially as a quarterback, to have that intangible quality, you’ve got to be supportive of your teammates, whether you’re competing against them or not.”