Joe McKnight article
Johnctx
You know who he is built like? Chris Johnson of the titans.
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/news/story?id=5143471
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Joe McKnight wants to run from his past
By Rich Cimini
ESPNNewYork.com
Joe McKnight will report to the New York Jets' rookie minicamp this
weekend, and, for perhaps the first time in his football life, he won't
be treated like a rock star.
He's OK with that. After everything he has experienced, from raising the
spirits of his Louisiana hometown in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
to carrying the weight of unrealistic expectations at USC, he's tired of
the heavy lifting.
All he wants is to play football. He just wants to be Joe again. Which,
of course, raises the question: Where did Joe go?
Joe used to be poetry with a football in his hands. He was so dynamic
during a legendary prep career in New Orleans, he made grizzled college
recruiters behave like teenage boys on their first date. Joe averaged
nearly 16 yards per carry as senior at John Curtis Christian High
School, where he scored 22 touchdowns five different ways -- running,
receiving, returning punts, returning kickoffs and intercepting passes.
Everybody assumed he'd win the Heisman Trophy some day; the only
question was how many times.
Turns out the only Heismans he saw were the seven trophies on display in
USC's Heritage Hall. Considering all the the pre-college hype, Joe's
three-year career at USC was unfulfilling. The Jets got him with a
fourth-round pick, so no one is expecting miracles. His job is to
replace the popular Leon Washington as an all-purpose back, so he's not
walking into a high-pressure situation. That's probably a good thing
"Joe has come up a hard road, but he's got all kinds of special
abilities," former USC coach Pete Carroll told ESPNNewYork.com from his
new office inside the Seattle Seahawks' facility. "He'll fit right in.
That role won't be too big for him at all."
From the time he started as a 5-year-old on the pee-wee level, Joe was
so gifted that he became bigger than the games. But his life changed
before his junior year in high school after New Orleans was devastated
by Katrina. Joe evacuated to Shreveport when the levees broke, and he
wound up separated from his mother for a month. She had evacuated to
Baton Rouge.
Football season was coming, but Joe couldn't get home. His house was
destroyed by the hurricane. He enrolled at the Evangel Christian Academy
in Shreveport, but only played two games. He eventually got back to New
Orleans -- what was left of it -- and back to his team. He still had no
home. He moved in with his high-school coach, J.T. Curtis, and they
leaned on football and each other, hoping their team could heal the
community's broken soul. In the Deep South, high school football can
inspire like a Sunday-morning sermon.
In the first game after Katrina, Joe gave the town something to cheer
about. After a slow start, what you'd expect after several weeks without
practice, he turned a nowhere, off-tackle run into a 60-yard touchdown.
He disappeared into a crowd of defenders, like Clark Kent in a phone
booth, and came out as a blur. The applause lasted for more than a year,
as Joe piled up ridiculous numbers and led Curtis to a state championship.
"That run," said Curtis, whose father founded the school, "is one I
don't think I'll ever forget."
When it came time to pick a college, most of the local folks assumed,
more like wished, prayed and hoped, Joe would choose LSU. It was only
natural, right? USC also wanted him badly, as did Ole Miss. In "Meat
Market," a book by ESPN The Magzine's Bruce Feldman that chronicles
recruiting wars in the SEC, Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron says, "If he comes
to Oxford, we'll change the bricks on Manning Way to McKnight Way."
Joe's decision to attend USC was regarded by the local folk as an act of
treason. That spring, at the Mardi Gras parade, the Curtis High marching
band was jeered because Joe had spurned LSU. Joe's mother, Jennifer
McKnight, said she still gets an occasional dirty look in public. Ditto,
Curtis.
"Some people are still angry at me," he said. "They think it was my job
to make sure he picked LSU."
Even after he picked USC, televised live, Joe still couldn't run from
great expectations. In L.A., he was hailed as The Next Reggie Bush. The
former Heisman winner, drafted by Joe's hometown Saints in 2006, was a
breathtaking open-field runner. So was Joe. Bush could line up in
different positions and catch the ball like a polished wide receiver. So
could Joe. The Reggie talk was relentless, and it followed him the
better part of his college career.
"It's totally unfair for anybody," Carroll said of the Bush comparisons.
"Reggie was one of the greatest college players to ever play. Of course,
we wanted to see if we could find the next one. We thought Joe had all
those abilities."
By his own admission, Joe started to believe he was Reggie. As a
freshman, he tried to make every play a highlight, making a fancy move
when a routine move would've sufficed. The production wasn't there, and
those close to him became concerned he was obsessed with being Reggie
Bush. Carroll took some of the blame, saying "we kind of messed him up
early on" by trying to rush him into a prominent role. Even his mother
noticed Joe wasn't right.
Jets blog
Jets Looking for more information on the green and white?
ESPNNewYork.com has you covered. Blog
"They looked at him to be the next Reggie Bush, not realizing that
Reggie is Reggie and Joe is Joe," she said. "They needed to let Joe be
Joe. Once he realized that, and let the game come to him, he was fine.
When they played Ohio State, that was Joe, not Reggie."
That was last September, when Joe, never known as the toughest inside
runner, attacked the fierce Ohio State defense for 32 yards on five
carries on a late, game-winning drive. Unfortunately, there weren't many
games like that in his USC career. He was slowed in his first two
seasons by a variety of injuries -- dislocated toes, a sprained knee and
banged-up fingers. He was a part-time player in USC's deep stable of backs.
"Every year, we had great running backs come," McKnight said. "We never
had a chance to show what we were about."
The knock on Joe was that he was immature and didn't like to play hurt,
criticisms that followed him into the NFL draft. One general manager,
speaking on the condition of anonymity, called him "a Ferrari that was
always in the shop."
The slights weren't only coming from coaches and scouts. According to
people close to him, Joe did need to work on himself. They say he
finally realized he needed to chage on Feb. 3, 2009, when his son,
Jaiden, was born. Having a child while he was still in college, "made
him get his head on straight," his mother said. Sometimes that is a
clich� in sports -- how many perspective-changing child births have we
read about? -- but Jaiden's birth really did seem to have a positive
impact on Joe.
For a change, he stayed healthy. He won the starting tailback job and
rushed for 1,014 yards (6.2 per carry), becoming the first USC back to
rush for 1,000 since 2005. Two backs did it that year, LenDale White and
some guy named Reggie. For the first time since childhood, Joe was Joe,
running free, running for Joe, not chasing an icon.
"It took me a while to get that out of my head," McKnight said of the
Bush comparisons. "I mean, it's a lot of pressure. I tried to live up to
the expectations."
Joe never got a chance to take a final bow at USC, as he was suspended
from the Emerald Bowl after it was discovered he was driving an SUV
registered to a Santa Monica businessman. The businessman said he bought
it for Joe's girlfriend, whom he employed, as a favor. USC investigated
for possible NCAA violations.
Goodbye, USC. Hello, NFL draft.
Despite questions about his durability and character, the Jets liked Joe
so much they traded up to select him. The other shoe dropped when they
traded Washington to Carroll, who curiously passed on Joe in the fourth
round, one spot ahead of where the Jets took him. Carroll said he had a
greater need on defense, so he picked Oregon defensive back Walter Thurmond.
The man who knows Joe the best, Curtis, believes the best is yet to come.
"I think he's going to explode on the professional level," he said. "Now
he can just play."
The Jets don't see him as the next Reggie Bush. They don't expect him to
be the next Leon Washington. They just want him to be Joe, the Joe from
2009.
Joe McKnight.