3 Star DE/OLB Shawnkel Knight-Goff out of Doss High School here in Louisville is a player UofL appears to be prioritizing in recruiting. He is a fast, powerful, highly versatile player. The kind of player UofL covets as well as other schools.
Knight-Goff is 6’4 210 lbs and runs an impressive 4.48 40 yard dash. Besides UofL and UK, IU, Purdue, Cincinnati, and WKU are among the other 9 schools to offer him. Mike Summers and LD Scott are currently UofL’s primary recruiters per 247sports.com.
Back on May 19, Knight-Goff committed to UofL’s arch rival UK. It seemed like UofL had lost one of the city’s best players to its biggest enemy. However, on May 31, Knight-Goff backed out of his commitment to UK. (Editor’s Note: Thank Goodness!)
Then, this past Sunday, Knight-Goff visited UofL’s campus.
Former Kentucky commitment Shawkel Knight-Goff of Doss High School makes a Sunday visit to the Louisville campus. https://t.co/tJ5MoRczW0
— Jody Demling (@jdemling) June 11, 2018
It appears Knight-Goff is taking a long, hard look at his hometown university. Knight-Goff’s game would be a great fit for UofL.
When looking at Knight-Goff’s highlights, the first thing that jumps out is his versatility. He lined up all over the field for Doss. He played RB, TE, S, OLB, and DE.
https://twitter.com/itskeltime1/status/1001579191157051393?s=19
Shawnkel’s skills, speed, hands, power, and athleticism are why Doss loved having him play so many positions. UofL, based on the fact LD Scott is heavily involved with his recruiting, is likely eyeing him as either a DE or OLB.
As an OLB, Shawnkel shows great play recognition. He diagnoses whether a play is run or pass and acts accordingly. His speed allows him to be on the backside of a play and still be able to run down a RB and make a tackle.
Knight-Goff has excellent ball skills and soft hands to go with good coverage skills; as mentioned before he has played S. This particular set of skills would make him an ideal OLB and it would make opposing TEs pull their hair out as he has both the size and speed to cover them.
When he puts his hand on the ground and plays DE, Shawnkel is always a threat to get into the backfield and cause havoc. Many times, his havoc in the backfield causes fumbles and his hands allow him to recover fumbles and make fumble returns.
As we discussed ad nauseam, he has uncanny speed for his size and this allows him to blow past offensive linemen. The other thing that allows this is his ability to time the snap and get the jump on the blocker.
Shawnkel’s strength and power also show here as he can shed blocks well to make tackles on RBs. His tackling is sound as wraps opposing players up and yanks them down.
One other thing Shawnkel does that doesn’t come naturally to all DEs is that when he can’t get to the QB, he gets his hands up to tip passes. Shawnkel’s arms are long and they will make it hard for any QB to throw over him. Plus, with his soft hands, some of those tips could become interceptions.
The body Shawnkel possesses will allow him to put on some more weight and make him stronger and more powerful; it’s scary to think that is even possible. It may also allow him to become quicker and faster.
It’s easy to see why Bobby Petrino and his staff are working to keep Shawnkel Knight-Goff home. He’s a player that has unique abilities for his size and should be able to get bigger and stronger. Knight-Goff could be used at multiple positions if the staff feels the need to. He has the potential to grow into a special player that UofL fans would long remember if he decides to choose the Cards.
Check out his full junior season highlights from Hudl here.
