Announcement
Safety Town
11/9/2018 By ALBERT GRINDLE The Gazette
Buckeye senior Michael Knoll will end up with plenty of options for play college basketball or football, mainly because he checks in at 6-foot-6, 205 pounds. He had a strong summer on the hardwood playing alongside top-flight talent for the All-Ohio Red and All-Ohio Cincinnati AAU programs, but figured he could get looks on the gridiron, too, with a good season. Knoll has had help in the form of older sister Kelsey’s boyfriend, Randy Greenwood, who continues to send out highlight videos to anyone who will watch. The pitch is Knoll is athletic enough to play tight end — he’s a backup quarterback/starting free safety for the Bucks — if a Division I/II school wants a player with upside.
It turned out the theory was correct because University of Akron tight ends/H-backs coach Kory Gribbin offered Knoll a preferred walk-on roster spot, but Knoll also is a potential D-II basketball prospect and will take his time making a decision.
“It definitely caught me by surprise,” he said. In the meantime, Knoll is focused on keeping alive a successful football season as the Bucks (10-1) head into a Division III, Region 9 semifinal tonight against Kenston (10-1) at Bedford’s Bearcat Stadium. Knoll has lost, in his estimation, only five regular-season football games since fifth grade.
His sixth-grade Buckeye Jets won the Brunswick Youth Football championship, and the varsity is 20-2 in two seasons under coach Greg Dennison. His senior season hasn’t turned out like Knoll expected, as he was in a quarterback competition with Jacob Doerge in the preseason until Doerge emerged in Week 2 and has since led the Bucks on a 10-game winning streak.
Knoll was understandably disappointed but focused on another up-for-grabs position, free safety, took a stranglehold on it and hasn’t looked back. The way Knoll handled the situation thrilled Dennison, whose defense has allowed an average of only 11.7 points over the last six games with Knoll patrolling deep.
“It’s really a credit to him and his attitude because he started the year rotating in at quarterback and we moved him over to defense,” Dennison said. “That was a position where we really weren’t sure who we were going to place there. From Day 1, he’s stepped up and had a great year for us.” Knoll busted out with a 10-tackle, two-interception performance in a regular-season-defining 38-35 victory over eventual D-VI playoff qualifier Columbia.
He stood out again last week in a 28-25 decision against Alliance with seven tackles and a near-interception on the Aviators’ final snap. For the season, Knoll has 45 tackles (3 for loss), six interceptions for 57 yards and three pass breakups. Knoll and Wadsworth free safety Jake Herbert, who has a school-record nine picks, are the only county players with more than four interceptions. Knoll is a surprisingly big hitter given his slender frame — “I just love hitting people,” he said — but smiled with confidence when asked about the interceptions.
All of the summer hours put into becoming a better quarterback paid off in a way he didn’t necessarily expect. “My experience being a quarterback, I can read the quarterback’s eyes and look where he’s going,” he said. Knoll and fellow DBs Anthony Watkins, Clay Gunkelman and Logan Steppenbacker face their biggest challenge tonight.
The Bombers’ Jon Tomcufcik has 2,245 yards passing as Kenston, whose scheme is modeled after D-I superpower Mentor, is without question the best offense the Bucks have faced. Buckeye is on Cloud 9 after finally winning a playoff game for the first time in school history, and it believes that confidence should not be underestimated. “We’ve just got to act like it’s another game,” Knoll said. “We can’t get too cocky. We can’t act like it’s over because we finally made history. We’ve just got to keep going.”
Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.
