Graduate-transfer rules were made for a quarterback like Trevor Knight
HOOVER, Ala. — Trying to keep up with the annual quarterback merry-go-round is enough to make a football fan’s head spin.
Simply put, there are more QBs with starter-level skills than there are starting spots at the FBS level — particularly in Power 5 conferences. As a result, countless passers decide to transfer every offseason.
There are myriad criticisms of the millenial generation. Chief among them is a sense of entitlement many of them not only feel, but have engrained at a young age by enabling parents. Nobody wants to work hard for anything anymore, let alone wait around for an earned opportunity. It’s immediate gratification or else.
That’s not the case this season at Texas A&M. Graduate-transfer rules were engineered for a player like Trevor Knight.
A four-star recruit out of San Antonio (Texas) Reagan High School, Knight originally signed with Oklahoma. SEC fans know him as the freshman Alabama slayer — 348 yards and 4 TDs in the Sugar Bowl three years ago.
However, little of that success carried over to his sophomore campaign. An up-and-down 2014 ended with a 40-6 shellacking at the hands of Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Knight threw for only 103 yards and was picked off three times. By 2015, he had been benched in favor of Baker Mayfield, who was sensational.
With a year of eligibility left but no shot to beat out Mayfield, his time as a Sooner had come to an end.
“When I decided to put out my release-to-contact letter, I didn’t know what to expect,” Knight said last Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “I was kind of looking for a fresh start and to get out of the Big 12, although coach (Bob) Stoops allowed me to play in the Big 12 if I wanted to. But I wanted to step away from that and have a fresh start. I started putting feelers out there and got back some great schools.”
One was Texas A&M, although at the time the Aggies didn’t appear to be in the market for another signal caller. Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray, each a five-star signee, were in a battle for the job.
“I gave coach Sumlin a call, and he was very up front and honest with me that he had two guys on campus at that point that they felt comfortable with,” Knight said. “And that is all I wanted. I wanted to have a conversation with him and he was up front and honest, which I respect a lot.”
All of a sudden, in the span of just a few days this past December, Allen and Murray both announced plans to depart College Station — Allen to Houston, Murray to Knight’s former home at Oklahoma. The only other scholarship quarterback on the roster was Jake Hubenak. Suddenly, Sumlin was left scrambling under center.
“We got back on the phone,” Knight said, “and it was a little bit different conversation at that point.”
Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Cast aside as Mayfield went on to stardom, Knight needed to hit the reset button. Sumlin needed a new depth chart.
“He filled a void for us as a quarterback who was not just a transfer quarterback but a guy who had real game experience and had some success,” Sumlin said. “So for us it was a great match and, I think, has led to really a drama-free offseason.”
An impressive few weeks of practice culminated in a strong performance in the spring game, as Knight threw a pair of touchdowns and ran for another. Instead of waiting until fall camp, Sumlin went ahead and named him the starter.
“It was pretty simple: He earned it,” Sumlin said. “And by earning that, he’s continuing to earn the other part of it, which is the locker room and leadership part every day.”
Knight had to have been humbled last season at Oklahoma. He was never able to recapture the magic from that one night in New Orleans. Mayfield, meanwhile, immediately turned the Sooners into a juggernaut once again offensively. His 36-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio blew away Knight’s 14-to-12 from the year before.
“The greatest teacher is experience,” Sumlin said, “and I think what has helped Trevor is some of that gunslinger has won games and some of that gunslinger cost him his job and has put him in the situation that he’s in.”
Allen took his ball and went home — Murray, too. But after they sit a season, we’ll hear from them again.
Knight, conversely, did all the right things. He carried a clipboard on the sideline in 2015, as tough as that must have been for him. Furthermore, he did the work required of him in the classroom and got his degree.
Unlike Allen and Murray, as a graduate transfer, Knight is eligible to play immediately. He just happens to walk into a pretty good situation at Texas A&M. His receiving corps (Christian Kirk, Speedy Noil, Josh Reynolds and Ricky Seals-Jones) might be the best in the country, plus Sumlin and Noel Mazzone employ a QB-friendly scheme.
At this point, it’s difficult to determine if Knight needed Texas A&M more or Texas A&M needed Knight more.
“My whole process was looking for something perfect for my senior year,” he said. “A guy who was extremely happy at Oklahoma, loved the people that I was around, I got to do a bunch of great things. But just boiling down to it, I miss being on the field. I miss playing football.”
The offseason quarterback-transfer stories do get a bit repetitive. But Knight’s is one worth rooting for in 2016.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South. You can send him an e-mail directly at jcrist@saturdaydownsouth.com or follow him on Twitter @SaturdayJC.
