Knight tops list of grad transfers into SEC
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — When both of Texas A&M’s top quarterbacks left the school within days of each other in December, the Aggies were left scrambling to find someone to run Kevin Sumlin’s high-powered offense.
They found it in Trevor Knight, who came to the school as a graduate transfer in January after a successful career at Oklahoma. Knight stepped in as Texas A&M’s starter to become the most successful graduate transfer in the Southeastern Conference this season. Plenty of other schools in the league have received contributions from graduate transfers, too.
Knight started 15 games in his first two seasons with the Sooners, with the highlight coming when as a freshman he earned MVP honors in a 45-31 Sugar Bowl win over Alabama by throwing for 348 yards and four touchdowns. But he was benched in favor of Baker Mayfield last season, and instead of spending the rest of his career on the bench, he decided to test his luck with the Aggies.
“Our situation with Trevor is a good one,” Sumlin said. “Gave him another chance to play at this level, maybe another shot at playing professionally. Filled a void for us. Don’t know there’s lot of bad things about it.”
Knight has thrown for 1,911 yards and 13 touchdowns and run for 583 yards and 10 more scores in helping the 10th-ranked Aggies to a 7-2 record this season. But he will miss the rest of the regular season after injuring his right shoulder Saturday. Sumlin hopes he can return to play his last college game for the Aggies in their bowl game.
Though some question if these transfers should be allowed, Sumlin doesn’t see any problem with them. And this comes from someone who not only benefited from a graduate transfer but who has let players like this go in the past when it was clear that it was a better situation for them.
Jameill Showers was with Sumlin for three seasons, playing behind Ryan Tannehill and then Johnny Manziel before graduating in 2013 and transferring to UTEP, where he became a starter. Matt Joeckel, another backup quarterback for Sumlin, left A&M to play at TCU after graduating.
“I’ve seen both sides of it,” Sumlin said. “To me my thought process is if a young man comes to your university and does everything you ask him to do, has been a great teammate and graduated from your university, which is the number one thing he came there for, and for whatever reason wants to leave, why not give him a chance to go somewhere else to live out his dream? If someone wants to be part of that and they need a quarterback for a year, an older guy, why not?”