Nile Knapp RB

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Riddlewire said:
Nile will sign with NAIA school Lindewood
link
I hope he has a wonderful rest of his life.
But I consider this a tragedy.

Remember that this is not the end of the road. Nile can always transfer to a D1 school, but his clock starts regardless by playing at an NAIA school. So if he plays one season NAIA, then transfers to D1 I believe he will still have 4 years of eligibility left, his NAIA year being used as a redshirt. Let's hope this is what happens.
 

johnnyboy

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Riddlewire said:
Nile will sign with NAIA school Lindewood
link
I hope he has a wonderful rest of his life.
But I consider this a tragedy.

wow.

thats crazy. why NAIA? he had to have had atleast a couple D1AA offers right? this is unbelievable man.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Sad stuff about the NAIA school. He should transfer, else he won't even get a look from the NFL.
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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Very sad. I watched his film again and I'll say mostly the exact same thing. One mild correction though, his top-end speed is probably more like a back with a 4.5-4.55 40. But his speed is ridiculously front loaded allowing him to run a 4.43. This guy can turn on the jets in an instant and burst through a small hole. The blocking in his video was mostly average to bad, but he constantly made something out of nothing with ankle breaking "rocket cuts". This is very sad stuff. I no longer consider myself an Iowa fan.
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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FootballDad said:
Looking at his video, in addition to all of the other superlatives that have been mentioned above, I really like how he keeps his pads low, he does not run "upright".  And although his posted verticle of 30" is a bit underwhelming, he has great power, just look at those thighs and his ability to run through arm tackles.

Football Dad and Riddlewire: I just wanted to reopen this thread to address some points here. I have researched and found that Nile Knapp had improved his vertical to 38 inches FootballDad, so that is very good! He also has run a 3.9 short shuttle with 4.43 speed which puts his agility differential at 0.53. This kid simply doesn't slow down when he cuts...Unbelievable!

Riddlewire, just wanted to ask you. You have a friend who coaches at Arkansas State right? Arkansas State isn't an "elite" FBS program. Have you tried your best to do everything in your power to make him aware of Nile. I mean he led Georgia in rushing, albeit he didn't play Texas 5A competition- but this is still a HUGE achievement (Georgia is a big state). Secondly he has FABULOUS MEASURABLES and then you look at his highlights and WOW JUST WOW they blow you away. He also clearly has a strong work ethic as his dad appeared to be very involved with his football endeavors (was he his coach?) and he REALLY wanted to attend Iowa where he had family and lastly he improved good measurables to make them GREAT measurables! I heard something about his grandfather being sick and his family financial situation being tough, but we all would love to hear back from you Riddlewire if you talk to your Arkansas State coach friend about Nile (if Nile's circumstances change) and ask him if he would at least consider your talent evaluation and check him out on Youtube. People don't even know of this kid...WhiteRivals.com, BrownieScout.com and Luginbill Inc. buried his talent.
smiley7.gif
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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Pay close attention to the two runs in a row at 0:36 and 0:46. In both these runs he jukes completely laterally (actually in the 0:46 play he jukes laterally AND backward slightly somehow) without losing basically ANY speed. He can put on the breaks and stop on a dime when there's a converging "cloud of tacklers" and turn on the jets in an instant again when he has too. He can shift his profile to fit through tiny seems while running forward or swinging to the right or left. The only thing he probably lacks at this point is freakish strength. Still, he can hit the weight room, add a little weight- and be 5'10 188 lbs. by the time his first football season starts (like so many black kids do). Then by the time he'd be a senior in college he'd probably be 200 lbs.

His ten yard clip looks like Chris Johnson's would have in H.S. I don't care if his top-end speed would probably equate to your typical 4.5-4.55 runner, he turns on the jets and is 10 yards down field in an instant. He has run a 3.9 flat short shuttle recently and has improved to 38 inches in the vertical jump showing tremendous work ethic. America land of "liberty and justice", I ask just one FBS school to give this kid a schoolarship. You don't have to only look at him on CF, he's on Youtube and his video has over 2,000 views I think. Meanwhile Lache Seastrunk's probably has over 100,000 views.

Wake up America,- Nile should be a top 50 prospect too! Instead BSPN is trying to tell us that every position even QB should be at least a 70% black position in a 13% black country. Yeah, that's right- 9 of the top 12 H.S QBs are supposedly black for 2011. Do they want the white athlete to become nearly extinct at every position in football now? I simply want the best to rise to the top, especially when they're good kids like Nile. Then maybe someday- football will be the sport it used to be again. It doesn't matter what the colours are, discrimination is WRONG!
smiley19.gif
 

FootballDad

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Just tooling around the internet while taking a break, I found Nile Knapp's dad, Rock Knapp, who is doing a column for the Victory Sports Network, an NAIA Football site. He's done a few columns now, the most recent from this Monday. He is battling terminal cancer, but according to Nile's brother, Teddy, his dad's canceris in full remission. Here is a post from the Hawkeye Hideout by Teddy that details Rock's condition:


<DIV id=post_message_88305>"I'm not sure if anyone on this thread knows about or keeps up with my dad. He was diagnosed with 2 types of terminal cancer around May last year. Amyloidosis and Multiple Myloma. After several rounds of chemo and 2 stem cell transplants, he is in full remission! God is good. The Amyloidosis shut down his kidneys, so he's will have to do dialysis for the rest of his life. If this is your first time hearing about this, please pray for him. He's come a long way but still has a long way to go. (11/11/09)"
 
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Anybody know whats going on with this guy? I checked Lidenwood's football website and dont see him on the roster. Even if they redshirted him, wouldnt his name/profile be part of the roster? Did he go somewhere else?
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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i wonder if Iowa is missing this kid right now ... i mean, after all, the top 3 tailbacks the Hawkeyes had going into 2010 are no longer with the team.

suddenly their "loaded" backfield, which was allegedly a reason why they didn't offer Knapp, looks pretty empty. that being said, the Coker kid looked good against Mizzou in the bowl game.
 

Riddlewire

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Nile attended Lindenwood for a semester where he redshirted.
He tranferred to Louisiana College where he either redshirted or didn't accumulate any statistics.
He was on both teams, but he was never listed on either roster.
He left Louisiana College and is now living at home in Georgia. He's working this summer and plans on attending college (undefined) in his home town.

Nile never got a chance to play college football and it looks like his playing career is over permanently. I think we should retire our angst and offer our prayers to his family.

If you want the full story, you can piece it together for yourself from his dad's journal entries.
Link
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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I will surely offer my prayers RW. I guess he got the too small label that every small white scatback seems to get, even at the lower levels. I wonder if Chadron State would give him a look? (since Nile has many similar qualities to Woodhead).

I pieced together from message boards that his family doesn't have the money after his dad's medical bills from a battle with cancer for him to walk-on anywhere. If he is attending Junior/Community College I hope they have a football team, but it looks like Nile is another amazing white scatback, who will fall into obscurity along with John Howell, Justin Beaver etc.
smiley19.gif
 

ToughJ.Riggins

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Here's another highlight video of him, since the one I posted here was taken down from Youtube. Pay close attention to the alien type- supernatural juke he pulls at 7:59, where he somehow jukes laterally AND BACKWARD while running full speed, which doesn't seem possible:

[Tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW0DN9wl-F8&feature=related[/Tube]
 

Carolina Speed

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Thank you Riddlewire and TJR for the updates. I have no idea who these people are, but they are in my thoughts and prayers!

We all have probably seen how Cancer devastates the human body. I pray this man recovers, but we should be comforted knowing he's a Christian man.
 

FootballDad

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I've been an occasional visitor to Rock Knapp's blogs over the last year or so, and he sounds like the kind of coach I would love to have my kids play for. He actually was only given a few months to live and has already outlived the doctor's prognosis by almost a year. I pray thata miracle will occur in this man's life, and also that Nile will not just give up. He is a rare talent that the country needs to see.
 
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