Here are my interviews from earlier today with Virginia Tech signee Demitri Knowles — wide receiver from Liberty Christian — and his coach, Frank Rocco.
Knowles is from the Bahamas and he has only played organized football for a few years. He plans to run track at Tech as well. His host family, which is also from the Bahamas, was at the signing with him, and his host mom brought a Bahamian flag to drape in front of the table while pictures were taken of him signing.
Knowles said he has no problem redshirting in 2011. He needs a year to polish his skills before getting on the field.
DEMITRI KNOWLES
How excited are you to make this official?
I’m real excited right now, especially because this is what I came here to do in the first place. I’m real excited I was allowed to come over here and do this.
Tell me about the first time you played football. Did you fall in love with the sport immediately?
Once I started playing, I guess I immediately loved it.
You started playing in the Bahamas?
Yes
Did you have a youth league there or some sort of organized football league?
It’s a youth league. I think it all started at a week-long football camp, and I won MVP, and that’s when I really thought I could play the game of football.
How old were you?
I was 14.
How many kids were playing at this camp?
It was quite a bit.
Did you start playing wide receiver immediately upon picking up the sport?
Yeah. When I was younger, I was always the guy that scored the touchdowns.
When did you first start playing?
I was 14. I knew it wasn’t as organized as it is over here, so I talked to my dad, and he knew that I needed to come over here and play football if I wanted to go on to the next level.
How did you get hooked up with these guys at LCA?
The way things worked out, it had to be God, and I thank him every day for that. My daddy looked for a school that was a Christian school that played football also, so I guess this was the best school that he saw.
How much do you keep track of your recruiting profile and rankings on the Internet?
I didn’t look it up at all. My dad looked at it a couple of times, and he told me I was on this site or that site, but I didn’t really track of it. I looked at it a couple times, but I didn’t keep track of how many stars I had or anything like that.
Still a raw player, do you see yourself as a hidden gem in this class?
I think so. I plan to go in there and be like a sponge and absorb a lot of information. When I first came here, like I said before, football wasn’t really that organized (in the Bahamas), so I didn’t even know when to be on and off the ball. I got a lot of experience (here), so I think I can get (more of) that at the next level.
You blocked kicks and was a part of LCA’s kickoff return game. Could you contribute early on special teams?
Right now, I think because of what they have right now. They’re graduating a few people next year, so I’m thinking about redshirting. I have no problem with that at all. This first year, I want to be like a sponge and absorb as much information I can to become a better player.
How excited do you get when you block a punt?
It makes me feel like I’m on defense, so it’s kind of fun.
When do you think you might have an impact with the track team?
I think I might go over there and have an impact immediately, I guess.
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FRANK ROCCO
How much of a hidden gem is Demitri?
There’s God given talent, and there’s developed talent. Right now he’s got the God-given talent. His two years here, I’d like to think he’s developed his talent to as high a level as he could in two years. Now Tech is going to take and smooth out all those other rough edges and hopefully take him to where he needs to be. I really think he can (be a big-time player), and I really appreciate the fact that Virginia Tech is willing, and they’ve made a living as you well know on finding diamonds in the rough over the years. They’re very solid at the receiver position right now, so they figured they would take a kid that has proven tremendous speed, has proven very good athletic hands. You get the usual track, speed guys, it’s very rare they have soft hands. It’s usually like playing volleyball on the football field, but Demitri has very naturally soft hands to go along with his speed, so now it’s just a matter of continuing to build his football IQ, so to speak – understanding windows in the zone and understanding how to work off the man coverage and stuff. He came a long way in two years, and that’s where he’s going to have to continue to grow in these next couple of years.
How quickly do you think he can pick this up and contribute at the college level?
There will be limited pressure on him to really perform in that first year. I think it’ll pull up his learning curve much quicker. He’s close, he really is. He’s very close. Good offensive coordinators know how to use those talented guys. Although they may not be the complete package right now, they’ll put some packages together — the Demitri package, send him deep, speed crosses and things like that where they can utilize what a kid can do. I don’t think he’s too far off. I think this one year of being able to grow without the pressure of having to be on the field will help him immensely.
Is Tech a perfect fit for Demitri because of its reputation for turning raw talent into star players?
That’s a good point, and they’ve done it time and time and time again. I think that’s one of the things he really felt comfortable with. UConn, UVa offered, and there were a couple others that were close to offering before he committed. I think the fact that they’ve been very forthcoming with the fact that they will bring him along slowly made him very comfortable. I think the fact that they’ve put some commitment into the track program at Virginia Tech in the next year. I think they’re kind of re-doing their indoor facility and what have you, so I think those were all key points to him, but I think he did buy into the fact that they had experience of taking these diamonds in the rough and turning them. into star players. It was kind of the perfect storm, and Demitri, obviously living here only two years, doesn’t know the whole recruiting gamut and the whole thing like that, he wasn’t real savvy with that, so his thing all came down to gut feeling, and his gut feeling told him the Virginia Tech scenario was the best thing for him.
How much do you follow recruiting online? What’s your feeling about how players are ranked?
I’m not big with that, and quite honestly I try to get our kids to not pay too much attention. It’s very hard to do today because it’s so prominent in their face.