We spoke to the Knott brothers about their time playing at ISU

The Knott brothers, Jake and Luke, were both linebackers under coach Paul Rhoads. Injuries sidetracked both of their careers, with Luke recently deciding to forgo his redshirt senior season because of constant injuries. Jake’s college playing days ended in the middle of his senior season in fall of 2012.

For the brothers, injuries were nothing new in coming to Iowa State to play football. According to their parents, Tim and Laura Knott of Kansas City, Missouri, the boys had a variety of injuries growing up. Luke had three knee surgeries between fifth grade and eighth grade. According to the two, Jake had broken his wrist twice and also broke his leg in a game and continued playing the remainder of the game.

Jake came to Iowa State from Waukee High School. The family had moved to the area when Jake was in eighth grade. They moved back to Missouri during Jake’s senior year, but Jake stayed back to finish high school at Waukee. When Paul Rhoads took over for Gene Chizik that year, Jake, who had originally committed to play baseball at the University of Iowa, said it only took about two weeks for Coach Rhoads to offer him a scholarship, which he gladly accepted.

Jake began playing for Iowa State in fall of 2009. Over the course of the next four years, he quickly turned in to one of the best linebackers in the history of Iowa State football. However, all of the successes did not come without hardships. A broken wrist and forearm were the start of the surgeries during college. Multiple shoulder surgeries followed suit. Jake tore his labrum in his left shoulder during the game against Baylor during his junior year. He had surgery to repair the tear after the season was done.

Jake came back for his senior season and started strong. However, during the game against Oklahoma State, Jake re-injured the shoulder he had had repaired in the offseason. He was then forced with a difficult decision. He had to choose whether to forgo his senior season and get his shoulder repaired so he had a chance to get ready for the NFL or continue playing. Jake ultimately chose to forgo the remainder of his senior season and played his last game against the Baylor Bears in Ames, which resulted in an Iowa State victory and outstanding play from Jake.

“With how everything lined up for the possibility of playing in the NFL and continuing on with a football career, if I hadn’t have gotten how they evaluate and the Combine and Pro Day and being ready for their offseason practices and training, if I hadn’t had gotten it then, I wouldn’t have played in the NFL at all,” Jake said.

Jake also did not want to let down his teammates by not playing to the best of his ability.
“I didn’t want to let down my teammates by trying to go out there and not performing and no one saying anything to me because I’m a senior captain,” Jake said.

“You gotta suck up your pride and accept that you’re not going to be who you actually are out there anymore just because of the same number and name.”

Jake then had another shoulder surgery, which was far more extensive than the first, requiring his entire shoulder to be opened up. After rehabbing this shoulder, Jake signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles. Following his stint with the Eagles, he also spent time on the Miami Dolphins roster.

Three years after Jake’s arrival on Iowa State’s campus, Luke Knott followed in his brother’s footsteps. Originally a high school quarterback for Lee Summit West High School in Missouri, Luke transformed into a linebacker, like his brother. Luke redshirted his freshman year, which was Jake’s senior year. Although they never had the opportunity to play together in a game, they valued their time together on the team.

Jake was a constant bug in Luke’s ear, giving him pointers on how to learn to play linebacker. This was especially true after Jake gave up the remainder of his senior year. He had more free time to come watch Luke practice with the scout team. The knowledge Jake shared with his brother proved to be influential throughout Luke’s college career.

Luke, like Jake, enjoyed early successes at Iowa State. However, during fall camp of his redshirt freshman year, Luke began to feel a sharp pain in his hip. He initially hid the injury from his coaches, teammates, trainers and family alike. After initially hiding the injury, coaches began to take notice of his struggle on the field. Luke proceeded to go to the doctor and received the news that he would need surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. He got his hip repaired and returned to the team for the summer and fall camps going into his redshirt sophomore year.

However, in the middle of the season, history began to repeat itself. More pain in his hip told him that something was wrong, but this time he told them he was experiencing general muscle soreness in his hip, in the hopes that their remedies would work, but nothing did. Luke finally accepted that he needed to get his hip examined by a doctor, but waited to do so until the season was over. What the doctors found was a ball of calcification on the bone that had initially been shaved down during his first surgery. The calcification was removed and he again returned to the team.

Luke returned for a successful redshirt junior season, but soon came to question whether he could continue to play the game he loved. He ultimately decided that it was in his best interest and best for the team if he walked away for his redshirt senior season. Luke relied on his family, Jake, his parents and older sister while making the decision after the season concluded.

“Just the way my body felt, watching the film, I knew I wasn’t the player that I once was,” Luke said. “You open up your hip a couple of times and it takes a little bit out of you.”

The instructions from Luke’s doctors do not allow him to workout his lower body like he used to, which does not allow him to be able to train like his teammates. Like Jake before him, he did not want to let down his teammates by being on the field and not being 100 percent.

“Just because of the number and name, you know, doesn’t mean that it’s the same guy out there playing,” Luke said.

The decisions to walk away from football were just steps in the evolution of their relationship. The boys had grown up playing a variety of sports, but their true passions were in baseball and football. However, the energy level and passion that they felt while playing football is what made them decide that playing football was the right decision for their futures.

“I actually committed myself in high school to the University of Iowa to play baseball,” Jake said. “And then, kind of came to the realization that I couldn’t see myself doing that further on in my life and making it a four to five year commitment just playing baseball because football is a lot of fun.”

Luke agreed with Jake.

“In high school when we realized that, you know, there’s no better feeling than playing a football game, running out there in front of the fans,” Luke said. “It’s just obviously two different sports, its two different energy levels.”

The two constantly supported each other throughout their respective careers and injuries. Luke tried to stay away from telling Jake what to do when he was in the process of making his decision his senior year. He instead simply spent his time providing Jake someone to talk to if needed. Luke also used Jake’s injury to better his career. Jake was able to watch him in practice more and provide him with more feedback, which led to his further development at linebacker.

Jake was happy to help and was “trying to create, make some value for myself for him and then for anybody else that was really interested in how to get better.”

Jake also tried to provide Luke with the same support that Luke provided him while he was making his decision. However, having gone through the same decision process, Jake had a hard time watching his little brother go through a similar thing.

Jake felt as though it was “close to torture because you know how awful, how terrible of a thing it is, how many bad parts of it there are and how hard it is to come back from it.”

Their parents were also forced to watch their sons go through these ordeals, and at separate points in their careers, they both told them that it was not worth the pain to continue playing. According to their mother, Laura, they told Jake after his injuries kept amounting, and they told Luke after his hip started bothering him again.

Despite this, both parents are proud of how their sons handled everything that life threw at them, and how the Iowa State fans treated them.

“Probably more proud than beyond words,” Laura said. “It’s been amazing, how fans are loyal and how loyal they are to the fans.”

Their father Tim added, “Not just of football, but the way they carry themselves off the field.”

Despite the hardships the two faced, they made the most of their time at Iowa State. The contributed to many signature wins. Jake played an instrumental role in Iowa State’s upset win over Oklahoma State, who was the second ranked team in the country, in 2011. Jake also caught the game winning interception against Iowa in Kinnick Stadium his senior year. Luke also started off his career in a strong way against the University of Northern Iowa his redshirt freshman year. He also played a role in the win over Iowa in Kinnick two years after Jake’s famous interception.

Despite not playing football anymore, the two value what they experienced while donning the Cardinal and Gold, and they do and will continue to miss it.

“The camaraderie of it all and the people that you meet and the relationships that you go through… the options that have been available because of football and a lot of lessons learned,” Jake said.

“It’s been a great experience at Iowa State, you know its obviously taught us a lot of valuable lessons you know from the football standpoint, teammates, former coaches, the fans. Honestly, I have no regrets coming here. It’s been a great time,” Luke said.