HARRISBURG, S.D. (KELO) — After a dramatic week 4 win over Washington, the Harrisburg Tigers remain undefeated and number 1 in the coaches poll. The defense has been stout and the running game solid, but the Tigers biggest treat comes through the air raid led by senior quarterback Jacob Knuth
“Explosive, inspirational, leader,” Jacob Knuth’s teammates said.
Harrisburg, South Dakota. Home to nearly 6,000 people and one of the state’s best quarterbacks, Jacob Knuth.
“He just leads by example. He is a competitor, if you’re not ready to compete then he doesn’t want you out there and he shouldn’t, and he holds his teammates accountable in the right way, and Jacob is a player that’s going to make a lot of other players better,” Harrisburg head coach Brandon White said.
After splitting snaps as a sophomore, Knuth would take the reins of the offense the following season and it wouldn’t take long for the 6’4 gun-slinger to find his groove.
“Last year against Washington, second week, I was like okay, football’s my thing,” Harrisburg quarterback Jacob Knuth said with a smile.
Throwing for nearly 300 yards and 5 touchdowns, a star was born and..
After Knuth’s big junior season, his recruitment started to take off.
“SDSU was the first to offer me and then from there schools really got interested. I went to a camp last December and I ran like a 4.6 something 40 and that got a lot of schools interested in me. And after SDSU offered, a lot of big time schools became interested in me and then Minnesota was the first big school to offer me,” Knuth said.
He would commit to PJ Fleck and the Gophers just a week later.
“Honestly I was kind of surprised, but I was so happy for him. I knew right away when I first met him as a kid that he dreamed of this and his dream came true so I thought that was pretty awesome,” Harrisburg receiver Andrew Walter said.
The future Big Ten quarterback has made play after play during his senior season, but there’s one in particular that’s stood out.
“He made one early against Pierre that I’ve never seen him make of stepping up in the pocket and delivering a ball that Lincoln Carlson didn’t even have to break stride,” White said.
And as his game has grown, so has his mind.
“We don’t have a lot of checks, our offense is built in for him to process those checks at the line of scrimmage and we go through the three ‘R’s’. Rhythm, read and react, and he understand what the defense is giving him and can make those adjustments on the fly. So, that’s pretty special,” White said.
Knuth and Harrisburg play at Roosevelt this Friday in the Livestream Game of the Week.