Confident and comfortable, Knox sets sights higher for year two

In the first six games of his college career, Jalen Knox was twice named the best freshman in the Southeastern Conference at a position he’d never played before.

Knox came to Missouri as an athlete who had played running back and some quarterback at Timberview High School in Mansfield, Tex. But all along the Tigers liked Knox’s skillset at wide receiver. He began turning heads in fall camp and kept it up through September and October.

And then Knox hit the wall.

“They’ve never really had a grind that lasts this long,” A.J. Ofodile, who was Knox’s position coach last year, said. “Even in Texas you may have a football season that the weeks are the same, but just the level that you have to play at from an effort standpoint practice and play t this level is completely different. If you’re in there like he was and you're playing a lot right out the gate, you do hit a wall at a certain point.”

In just the third game of the season, Knox had five catches for 110 yards and a touchdown in Missouri’s win at Purdue. Knox had five catches for a season-best 122 yards and another touchdown as Missouri torched Memphis on Homecoming. The SEC recognized him as the freshman of the week for both of those efforts. He also led the Tigers with 61 yards receiving and the team’s only touchdown at Alabama.

"I think more than anything it’s the experience doing it," head coach Barry Odom said. "He does have a unique skillset. He’s increased his body strength, really head to toe. So he’s quicker, he’s faster, he’s stronger, and I think really with the size that he’s got he’s increased his speed down the field, so all-encompassing. I think he’s become a lot more of a complete player.”

In the final five games of the year, (he missed the Tennessee game with a concussion) Knox had just seven catches for 35 yards. During spring football, Knox told the Columbia Tribune that “I let my teammates down the last half of the season.” Knox said the lack of production in November could be traced back to things he wasn’t doing months before.

"Just not knowing how to take care of my body and all that,” he said. “Not rolling out, not getting in the cold tub, just going through that and learning from it I know better than that now. I've got my body right now and I feel better than ever."

"That’s the learning curve,” senior wideout Johnathon Johnson said. “When he hit his wall I was there with him to see him hit the wall and I kind of told him like, ‘Come on, you’re better than what you think you are. You got to keep bringing yourself up getting ready to play each and every day.’”

Knox has done that throughout the offseason, which has him hoping his sophomore campaign will see improved production. Twenty-seven catches for 419 yards and three touchdowns is a strong debut in the SEC. Knox was happy with it at the time. Not anymore.

"It matched my expectations for what I expected myself to do before the season started, but looking back on it now, that's not enough for me,” Knox said. “I need to do way more than what I did last year.”

He should be one of Missouri’s three starting receivers this season, alongside Johnson and Johnathan Nance. With the return of Albert Okwuegbunam at tight end, the dual threat of Kelly Bryant at quarterback and the SEC’s second-leading returning rusher in Larry Rountree III, Knox might be the least publicized of Missouri’s offensive skill position starters. Which could lead to a little less attention and a little more production.

Consider again that Knox has been a wide receiver for all of 14 months now. What he did as a freshman was done mostly on athleticism and natural talent.

"I'm a lot more comfortable,” Knox said. “(Last August) I was like the fifth string receiver on the depth chart, didn't know what I was going to be doing my freshman year. I didn't know the offense or none of that. Now being in my second year having a whole year of playing under my belt, it just feels good and I feel comfortable in everything I'm doing.”

“He’s a confident player now in year two,” Bryant said. “He’s a guy that can go up and make plays on the ball and he’s a guy that can be really special when you get the ball to him.”

Knox has worked all off-season with Garrick McGee, who now coaches the Tiger wide receivers with Ofodile taking over the tight ends after Joe Jon Finley left for Texas A&M.

“He was kind of an athlete that became a receiver and he’s done a really nice job of his overall skill set really ratcheting that up,” Ofodile said. “Exciting for me to see having coached him lat year and now looking at him, you kind of take your eyes away him and you look at him, he's really progressed just in terms of really making himself a technically better receiver.”

“There's nothing I can't do,” Knox said. “If I need to take the top off the defense, I can do that. If I need to be the guy that can make a short throw, run and get a first down, I can do that too. If I need to go across the middle I can do that. I just try to be diverse and work on my whole game.”

“Sky’s the limit for him,” senior cornerback DeMarkus Acy said. “He can be one of the best receivers in the nation. To be that young and explosive.

“It’s fun playing against him. He’s gonna be real good and real fun to watch.”

Johnson is 883 yards away from being Missouri’s all-time leading receiver. He posted a very similar season to Knox as a freshman, albeit after a redshirt year. Johnson had 24 catches for 435 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson was the last Tiger to post more yards receiving than Knox in his first season and Knox’s total was the fourth-best ever for a true freshman at Missouri.

“You’re talking about the leading receivers in Mizzou history,” Johnson said. “He can be so much more special than that. He’s a great athlete. I love him.”