shocking how little mention Klein & Knott get on here

[cycloneman003]

They mess up plenty. That's the best part. They have a lot of room to get better when they are already very good.

true. they make mistakes. i guess i meant that most of the chatter on here is about the guys who arent playing well, and these two played great all year

[Frak]

Knott is amazing to me. Here's a player that neither Chizik or Ferentz wanted, and here he is leading the conference in tackles. A couple of plays a game, he just jumps off the field as a player that you can tell is special. I think that Klein is a future NFL player, but Knott is going to be a high draft pick barring injuries. These guys are only going to get better. The LBs for ISU are going to be REALLY good these next two years. Just need to get that DL in order and the D is going to be pretty salty. They need to get some depth on the interior and a better pass rush out of Lattimer/Maggitt/Neal/Nelson.

[pulse]

True, they don't give us much to rip on them. Perhaps the only thing I can think of is the way Klein was acting up after his excellent tackles late in the 4th quarter. He was doing his part, but we were losing, so he might want to dial it down a bit at times like that.

Exhibit A.

[Tre4ISU]

I think each one of them is also a testament to this staff and partially the last staff Knott is a Rhoads guy and Klein in a Chiz guy but they have been developed fully under this staff. It's remarkable really. I don't remember a sophmore defensive play that was as effective as these guys at ISU. Throw in Jeremy Reeves, who I think could be the best corner ever at ISU by the time he's done, and we could be working on a pretty stellar defense.

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Jake Knott is a first team all American next season and if he returns for his senior season.

[theyork]

Jake Knott is a first team all American next season and if he returns for his senior season.

that is a bold statement. just because he has a lot of tackles doesn't make him an AA. he likely won't even be 1st team all big 12 this year and you are saying he is first team AA next season? not likely my friend.

as someone mentioned in the other AA thread, you have to be a game changer at you position to become an AA. knott is good, yes. but offensive coordinators are hardly changing their game plans to get around knott.

he is good, but AA is quite a stretch if you ask. the cart is a bit ahead of the horse.

[bawbie]

I think the only way Knott gets a sniff at AA next year is if we win 8 games and have a top 30 defense.

[Jonecy]

I really enjoyed watching these guys play this year. I was a little worried about their durability (and our depth) heading into the season, but they lined up and got after it play after play, game after game.......gotta respect that.

And as others have said, they're only going to get better under Wally & Rhoads.

[BigLame]

What is shocking is before the season & up to our 1st game, there was quite a bit of the 'sky is falling' chatter in regards to our LB situation.
A lot was geared toward our lack of depth, and thankfully these 2 were able to play their tails off & lead the defense while not missing any action. But if I remember, the coaching staff did not appear too worried, yet they would openly comment on our lack of depth. There is no hiding the obvious, and the plan was if an injury occurred, some shifting around would be done to compensate. Taufoo goes down, Morton, Benton, & Washington (amongst others) come in and the D adjusted best they could.
More proof we need to support our coaching staff & not question their decision making and the like - in particular on the defensive side. They know what they are doing.

[dualthreat]

the players around Knott and Klein may have a bigger impact on their AA status next year than the actual play of those two.

They will lead the team in tackles and possibly interceptions. But if the rest of the guys don't turn our 100th ranked defense into something admirable, they will not get any AA mention.