THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410010380
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Great passer, quick, smart, and creative with the football. But too short to play quarterback in the ACC.
That was the scouting report on Shawn Knight from the University of Virginia coaching staff five years ago when he was a senior at Maury High School. The Cavaliers attempted to recruit the 5-foot-10 Knight, but not as a quarterback.
Did they make a mistake?
``I would say we did,'' U.Va. coach George Welsh now admits.
Ironically for U.Va., William and Mary comes calling on the Cavaliers today at 1 p.m. at Scott Stadium, and Knight likely will be the trigger man if the Tribe is to pull off an upset.
Though the soft-spoken Knight would never say so, he is widely thought to be the state's best college quarterback.
Most of the state's I-AA coaches acknowledge that Knight, who set an NCAA I-AA passing efficiency record last season as a junior, is the best among their schools.
``Shawn Knight was the best quarterback in the (Yankee) conference last season,'' James Madison coach Rip Scherer said. ``Shawn Knight is something special.''
And Knight has been light years better than the quarterbacks at U.Va. and Tech, whose erratic performances have coaches at both schools worried.
Knight has completed 70 percent of his passes since a poor first half in the Tribe's first game. His only interception came against Delaware, when a perfectly-thrown ball bounced off a receiver's hands and into the arms of a defensive back.
Welsh has been impressed.
``He's a quality athlete,'' he said. ``We worried about him two years ago and he was just playing for the first time.''
Knight was 15-for-22 for 163 yards as a sophomore in that outing, won by U.Va., 33-7, but he threw two interceptions late in a game dominated by the Cavaliers. This will be his first trip to Charlottesville since.
``He could play at a lot of I-A schools,'' Welsh said. ``He's a good pocket passer, but he's also a good runner, and he can scramble and find open receivers. When things break down, he can make plays.''
Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock says Knight should be a I-AA All-American.
``He's still improving, and I thought he had an All-American season last year,'' Laycock said.
But would he be a star in Division I-A?
Laycock, a former assistant at Clemson and Memphis State who turned down the head coaching job at Boston College four years ago, says the answer would be yes, under the right system.
``He's as good as I've seen,'' Laycock said. ``When we saw him at Maury, we didn't say, `He's got a chance, maybe he could do it.' We felt sure he could do it.
``If I was coaching at a I-A school, I would have said the same thing. You draw on your experience, and based on his arm, his delivery, his movement, his speed, his quickness, yeah, he was the real thing.
``The thing that has taken him to the next level is his intelligence, his ability to understand offenses and to make great decisions. That has put him over and above just being a great athlete. He wanted to be challenged in the passing game. He wanted to learn in the passing game. He didn't want to be just an option quarterback.''
In Charlottesville, there was less confidence in Knight's future as a signal-caller.
``They said, `We'll give you a shot at quarterback, but if it doesn't work out, you might play wide receiver,' '' Knight said.
``I wondered if it would be a one-day shot at quarterback.''
William and Mary's pass-happy offense turned him on. So did a promise from Laycock that he would be a pro-style, drop-back quarterback.
``When I came on the recruiting trip they really stressed everything but football,'' he said. ``There wasn't the glitz and glamour of the big schools.
``Everything was academics, social life, what the school has to offer. If something happened, if a freak injury occurred and I couldn't play football anymore, I asked myself, `Would I be happy here?' I knew after the visit here that this was the place.''
Baseball, too, was a topic about which Laycock said the right things. Knight says U.Va. told him he couldn't play baseball. Laycock said he'd try to work it out.
Knight played baseball three seasons for the Tribe before signing a pro contract. He played last summer in Class-A ball, and when this football season is done, he likely will return to a pro baseball career.
Knight rejected offers from U.Va. and East Carolina and signed early with William and Mary. U.Va. failed to land several highly regarded quarterback recruits it sought that spring, including Maurice DeShazo, who's starting at Virginia Tech.
Knight says he has nothing to prove and isn't seeking vengeance on Saturday.
``I've already proven that I can play,'' he said. ``I'm not upset with U.Va. I was interested in going there. I think any Virginia high school player thinks about that.
``It just wasn't the place for me. I respect coach Welsh and their program very much. But William and Mary was the right choice. I'd do it all over again. I'm very happy here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color file photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Ex-Maury star Shawn Knight broke the I-AA record for passing
efficiency last year.
FILE photo
Scouts thought Shawn Knight, at 5-foot-10, was too short to play
quarterback in the ACC.
by CNB