Brooks: McKnight Poised For Record Night

BOULDER - If his family had its way four years ago, Scotty McKnight might be catching footballs now at Oregon rather than Colorado.

And while we're delving into family druthers, the McKnights of Southern California also would have liked their son to be with them last weekend in New York, partaking in a celebratory dinner with their "adopted" son - New York Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.

"Yeah, they called me this afternoon and were kind of rubbing it in," McKnight said much later Sunday afternoon. "They left a message and said, 'Wish you were here.' They were going out to dinner - my parents and grandparents - and celebrate the win (Sanchez and the Jets moved to 3-0 after beating Tennessee 24-17)."

Of course, McKnight's Sunday was already booked. The Buffaloes were practicing for Thursday night's game at West Virginia (5:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN), and if McKnight catches one pass against the Mountaineers (how can he not, you ask?) he will set a CU record for receptions in consecutive games (28).

But if he walks out of Milan-Puskar Stadium without having put his hands on the ball, that would be OK with him - as long as the Buffs trot out with a win. It's a cliché, but McKnight is aware that spelling "team" doesn't require an "i."

"First things first," he said. "We're 1-2 and we need to come out of this one with a victory. We've been practicing real well and things are looking good for us. I'm excited to get this thing going.

"All that stuff, the accolades, it's like icing . . . it's definitely cool to be put alongside some of those guys in that (receiving) category that have played here.

"I respect all of them and it's a great honor for me to even be in the same sentence with those guys."

But despite his humility - or perhaps because of it - McKnight is working his way toward being featured in a couple of fat paragraphs in the receiving portion of CU's record book.

A reception against the Mountaineers will nudge him past Charles E. Johnson, who caught passes in 27 consecutive regular-season games from 1991-93.

McKnight, whose current streak is the ninth longest nationally, once again leads CU in receiving - a spot he's maintained for the past two seasons and appears on pace to make it three.

He entered 2009 having caught 40-plus balls in 2007 (43 for 488 yards, four touchdowns) and 2008 (46 for 519, five TDs), and through three games this season already has 20 receptions for 227 yards and a pair of TDs.

One huge reason for that increased productivity: He is the Buffs' most experienced receiver and obviously is a favorite target of close friend Cody Hawkins.

If that word isn't out yet among CU's opponents, it will be.

"You've got to account for him," Buffs cornerback Cha'pelle Brown said. "That's the best receiver on our team, so if you don't account for him he'll make a lot of plays."

Brown chuckles when asked about practicing against McKnight. Neither is an imposing physical specimen - Brown standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 170 pounds, McKnight at 5-11, 185.

But each knows his position, and more often than not has a good read on the opposition.

"He's a smart player, a very, very smart player who uses that to his advantage," Brown said. "Me and him are kind of similar - we cheat to win sometimes, you know? It's fun going against him because we try and read each other.

"That's what he does in the game; he's not a blazer, but he finds a way to get open and make plays."

Doing that routinely at Tesoro (Calif.) High School, McKnight hoped that California-Berkeley would take notice of him.

"Cal was the school I really wanted to go to; I had some connections there," he said. "I sent them my senior tape, and apparently it never made its way to Coach (Eric) Kiesau's desk, because most kids at least get a questionnaire. That's standard procedure if you played high school football.

"I got nothing from Cal - nothing. A Southern California kid . . . I was leading the state in receptions my whole senior year, and I didn't get any love from (Cal)."

But McKnight had gotten love from Oregon, making several visits to Eugene to meet with then-coach Mike Bellotti and his staff. And in a twist of fate, that affection transferred to Cal when the Ducks receivers coach left for Berkeley to replace Kiesau, who had accepted the same job on Dan Hawkins' CU staff.

Even with Cal courting him, McKnight's family was nudging him toward Eugene. But with Kiesau coming to CU, and a relationship with the Hawkins family in place (McKnight's father played at UC-Davis with Dan Hawkins), Boulder became the destination as a walk-on.

Perhaps just a few degrees off in his recollection, McKnight recalled, "I came here and there was snow on the ground and it was like 75 degrees . . . I watched practice and hung out.

"It was just a place where I felt it was right for me. And in terms of expectations, I just wanted to play and contribute as much as I could. I didn't have anything set in my mind; I just wanted to work hard and be part of the team, be a consistent guy, a leader and leave something when I left the program."

He's poised to do that and more, thanks to Kiesau, now the Buffs' offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

"One of the things that really helped me was redshirting and taking advantage of coach Kiesau and his teaching me technique. I mean, that's really what I owe a lot of this to," McKnight said.

"In high school, I thought I was a good route-runner, and then I came here and realized I didn't know anything. So, (Kiesau) taught me how to stick, plant and cut, just everything . . . and that's one of the big contributing factors to why I ever got on the field."

Kiesau was a believer before McKnight arrived for his freshman season. But that belief intensified once he got McKnight on the field and in position meetings.

"Probably everything else (except size) makes him special and different," Kiesau said, citing McKnight's work ethic, unselfishness and leadership qualities.

"The football part of it is important, but the other things are, too . . . he's just a great person."

If McKnight lacked head-turning size when he arrived at CU, he wasn't short on confidence.

"I never doubted my skills as a player or lacked confidence on the field," he said. "That's something I never had a problem with.

"There were some older guys who helped me out, but there was never a time when I felt like, 'Whoa, this is something I can't do.' It was just like, 'OK, I need to get better.'"

And McKnight did, recalled Kiesau, because he simply wanted to improve: "You always hope when you teach that people will internalize it and then do out and do it on the field - and that's what Scotty does.

"I mean, you teach him something and he'll do it the very next 'rep.' He gets football, he understands the game, and he's very coachable, very teachable. And those are the two very important things.

"You can have a guy who's an unbelievable athlete but if he's uncoachable and doesn't hear what you're saying, it doesn't mean anything.

"Scotty knows he's limited in some areas, so I think that's why he's done such a great job . . . he's coachable, he understands the game and it makes sense to him."

That started at a very early age. McKnight thrived on football since he and Sanchez were second- and third-graders in Southern California, where they were ball boys for Santa Margarita High School when Carson Palmer was throwing passes to former CU receiver John Minardi, among others.

"At halftime, the ball boys from one team would play the ball boys from the other team," McKnight said. "Mark was the quarterback, I was the receiver.

"We just started bonding from a young age and always kept in touch."

Their paths split in high school and college, with Sanchez attending Southern California. But their friendship never suffered; Sanchez has attended several CU games, including the 2009 opener against Colorado State, and he is planning to return to Boulder on a Jets bye week when the Buffs play Texas A&M (Nov. 7).

"He's my best friend and we've been real close - like a part of my family - like a brother," McKnight said. "He'll come home and go to my house and hang out."

Their dream scenario would be to play in the NFL together, and McKnight would like to at least have the opportunity to play somewhere following the 2010 season - his final one at CU. If that dream doesn't materialize, he'll likely pursue a career in (no surprise) coaching.

But Kiesau believes "somebody will give him a chance to get in (an NFL) camp. You never really know at the next level what they're looking for or what their needs of the team are.

"If someone's looking for a 6-4 burner, they're not going to take him. But I hope he gets a shot. He's been extremely productive and he's got all those intangible things. It's just a matter of what he'll make of the opportunity if he gets that shot."

That's so far in the future McKnight can't yet grasp the possibility.

"It's one of those things that kind of plays itself out," he said. "I'm going to keep doing what I need to do here and try to keep making plays. Hopefully that'll work out down the line.

"But it's never something you can bank your career on. I'd love to get a shot and I have confidence that I could perform at the next level.

"But like I said, we've got to start winning games here and that'll all take care of itself."

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU