Oklahoma's Trevor Knight opts for camaraderie, not complaint
NORMAN, Okla. — He has beaten Alabama. He has been asked out by Katy Perry. He has been a Heisman candidate. And now, Trevor Knight has become one of Oklahoma’s most visible cheerleaders.
The face of the Sooners’ late-season run toward the College Football Playoff is Baker Mayfield, a playmaking quarterback whose confidence and infectious energy have been a catalyst. Mayfield’s performance has relegated Knight to the sidelines, where according to teammates and coaches — who are backed by photographic evidence — he has continued to lead.
“I definitely want to be playing,” says Knight, a fourth-year junior. “Everybody on the team wants to be playing. That’s just not my role right now. I couldn’t be happier with the way ‘Bake’ is playing. I can’t say enough about him and what he’s done this year.”
If you doubt his sincerity, consider that even as he lost the competition to start, Knight won with his teammates, who elected him one of five team captains in August. Or check out the visual proof. In the middle of Oklahoma’s surge, one photograph from The Oklahoman might tell the story. It’s from a 52-16 victory Nov. 7 against Iowa State. H-back Dimitri Flowers is headed to the end zone on the receiving end of a flea-flicker from Mayfield on the Sooners’ very first offensive play. In the background: Knight, index finger raised, is racing down the sideline behind Flowers.
Last week against Baylor, TV cameras often captured Knight’s excitement after big plays. If anything, the pounding he gave Mayfield might have been too enthusiastic.
“He’s been absolutely Baker’s biggest fan,” says senior center Ty Darlington, Knight’s roommate and one of his closest friends. “That’s not just show. That’s genuine.”
In modern college football, it has become routine for quarterbacks to transfer when they’re not playing. Given Knight’s history at OU — hailed as hero, pilloried as goat, and everything between — would anyone have been surprised? Well, yeah — actually, everyone who knows him would have been shocked.
“If you know Trevor as a person at all, you know that’s not him,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says. “He’s all character and all for what’s best for the team.”
Not so long ago, the Sooners were convinced what was best for the team was for Knight to play. He created buzz inside the program when he confounded the Oklahoma defense while running the scout team and mimicking Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel during the run-up to the Cotton Bowl after the 2012 season. When Manziel did the same thing to the Sooners in a blowout victory, coaches were even more sure Knight’s dual-threat ability was the answer. And after Knight’s 348-yard, four-touchdown performance in a 45-31 Sugar Bowl win against Alabama to end the 2013 season, it seemed the Sooners might have a star ready to emerge.
Instead, Knight’s struggles last year mirrored the team’s. He was often banged up — including a frightening neck injury against Baylor — but he was inconsistent even when healthy. Meanwhile, Mayfield was sitting out the season after transferring from Texas Tech. As Knight struggled, it became apparent to many Mayfield would win the job, and that feeling was only heightened when Stoops hired Lincoln Riley as offensive coordinator and switched to the Air Raid offense. Few were surprised when Mayfield was named the starter in late August.
Even fewer within the program were surprised by how Knight handled the news. Mayfield says Knight welcomed him from the beginning, and that nothing changed during or after the competition.
“I can’t even imagine,” says Mayfield, asked to put himself into a similar situation. “Especially coming from the type of success he’s had and the type of player he is. But it’s no surprise the way he’s handled himself, just based on how he’s carried himself. He’s a great guy.”
Says Darlington: “When Baker won the job, he didn’t complain. He didn’t pout behind closed doors. He decided to do whatever he can do to help.”
For now at least, that’s been to prepare as though he was still the starter. To offer tips to Mayfield in film sessions and encouragement in practice and games — and to celebrate with teammates on the sidelines and in other forums.
“The guy is as selfless and team-oriented as anyone,” Stoops says. “His character as an individual and as a person is second to none. He’s everything that you want in a student-athlete and a person, and he’s doing his best to always share enthusiasm with the team, even though it isn’t him doing it. … It affects us in a positive way, for sure.”
On Sept. 12, after Mayfield led a dramatic rally for victory at Tennessee, Knight tweeted:
“You never know what’ll happen and it’ll be my time,” Knight says. “Heaven forbid something happens (to Mayfield), but you don’t know. I’d come in and do my thing and hope it wouldn’t be a drop-off. But I still have the ability to be a leader and captain on this team. it’s important to buy in.”
You want celebration? Try Knight’s pass to twin brother Connor Knight, a walk-on tight end, late in a win against Kansas (“Definitely a dream come true,” Knight told reporters afterward). And if this season hasn’t been what he dreamed, he seems to be coping pretty well.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself,” Knight says. “”I’ve learned a lot about leading from a different perspective, about buying into a greater cause. It’s been a great year.”