Had Saban stayed, McKnight would have been a Tiger

    He is one of the most talented to ever play high school football in metro New Orleans.

    His senior season, he touched the ball 69 times and scored 27 touchdowns. But all Joe McKnight is remembered for in his home state is that he didn’t sign with LSU.

    McKnight, in the midst of a summer workout at the Duke Academy in Kenner, said he still feels the heat from LSU fans. Said Joe, “They still ask, ‘Why didn’t you go to LSU?’”

    And, then from McKnight’s lips came something that was not prompted by the interviewer. McKnight said he would have gone to LSU if Nick Saban was still the Tigers’ head coach. Said McKnight, “Coach Saban was my coach.”

    “I remember seeing coach Saban my sixth-grade year. I was practicing with the varsity, they threw a screen play to me, and I broke it for a touchdown. Coach Jeff (Curtis) ran to coach Saban telling me who I was. After that, Coach Saban always used to come around.”

    But, McKnight signed with USC, announcing it on national television. He says his decision to make his disclosure a public event was something he regrets.

    “I wish I could do that differently about choosing a school and college,” he said. “I still would have picked USC, but I would have never come in with the USC colors on. I think that is what made LSU fans mad, because I came on with the colors.”

    McKnight made his decision more than three years before LeBron James made his. McKnight said there were some parallels. “Louisiana was home for me,” he said. “I was leaving. Cleveland was home for LeBron, and he was leaving.”

    Then with a laugh, McKnight added, “I kinda felt for LeBron. I wanted LeBron to win this year.” 

   College recruiters’ pursuit of McKnight was always intense. But on a September night in 2006, it became frenzied. McKnight caught touchdown passes of 80 and 45 yards as Curtis rallied from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit to win at Hoover, Ala., 28-14. Hoover was ranked No. 1 in the nation in three different polls.

    “The day of the game, I woke up at 5 a.m.,” said McKnight. “I was ready to play the whole day.”

    That night, his phone rang. “Coach (Pete) Carroll called, Coach (Charlie) Weis called.”

    McKnight said he enjoyed playing for Carroll, but missed the intense work ethic of the John Curtis football program. “Coming into my senior year, Coach J.T. was still slapping my head at practice.”

    When McKnight arrived at USC, he said he was shocked that he was competing against “so many tailbacks.”

    Three years later, McKnight departed with no Heisman Trophy and no national championship.

    A fourth-round pick of the Jets, he vomited during his mini-camp  debut. But on the final day of the 2010 regular season, he rushed 32 times for 158 yards in a 38-7 win over the Bills.

    He said the early criticism he received from the New York media was justified. Said Joe, “I kinda brought that on myself.”

    Now, he can’t wait for the NFL lockout to end. “I am focused on ball and ready to change everybody’s perception of me,” McKnight said. “I can’t wait for the season to start.”

    The kid who left for home for California has grown up, but he will never outgrow the question. “When they meet me, first thing they ask, ‘Why didn’t you to go to LSU?’”

    Ed Daniels is sports director at ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at edaniels@clarionherald.org.