A couple more things from Knauf …
• He greatly appreciates the well wishes and support he's received on social media. He knows how it can be sometimes, but says he's not received one negative comment.
"You never know how important you are - I'm not trying to say I'm a big deal or anything because I wasn't - but when you see the reaction, you're like 'Wow, I was somewhat of a help and more of a benefit than I thought I was,'" he said. "It's nice, but it's sad that I can't help them out any more. I can't show them what else I was capable of and how else I could help the team. But it's life. Some things come to an end abruptly, some things last a lot longer."
One tweet stuck out.
"There's a lot of people who have put a smile on my face with their tweets at me," he said. "There's a guy who tweeted at me and said 'Loved seeing you play. Enjoy the early retirement with a game of shuffleboard and early dinners,' and that made me laugh. I really appreciate everything people have said on Twitter or Facebook, any type of media. Everyone was very kind and appreciative of what little I've done for football. I wasn't out there much, but when I was I put everything I had into it."
• Knauf says he learned a ton from his incident a couple years ago, when he and a teammate were arrested on a shoplifting charge at a local department store.
"That was by far the dumbest thing I've done, especially with the opportunity I have," he said. "I look back and I'm like 'Why risk a half million dollar education, the network of people you've met, the coaches you've met, the friends, the alumni, everything that was caused by and given to me by Purdue? Why would you ever do that?'
"I don't know. It was a dumb and a very instantaneous decision. I'll regret that to the day I die. But I learned a lot from it. I matured quickly through it. As much as I say 'Man, I wish that didn't happen,' sadly, I'm glad it happened because it made me a bigger man and a more mature man, learned to handle a lot of things differently."
To Knauf's credit back then, he faced it, took his suspension and seemed to speak from the heart to media shortly afterward, expressing his regret, embarrassment and an apology.
"My parents raised me that if you mess up, it's your problem and you need to do this or that right away, apologize, whatever needs to be done. It's in your ballpark," he said. "You have complete reign over what you do next. When I did it and things went downhill, I thought 'You've got to do what you have to do.' And as much as I didn't want to do (speak), I had to do it. It was hard, but you live and learn and I won't make that mistake ever again."
• Knauf and Kevin Sherman had a very close bond, it seems, to the point where he had to hold back some emotion when talking about his former position coach.
"I was extremely sad to see Sherman leave," he said. "He was probably one of the most influential, my favorite coaches I've ever encountered. I think what he taught me on and off the field, I'm going to apply it to life. The things he taught me and the other guys are things that most coaches wouldn't dare to do. He pushed buttons that have never been pushed inside my head, physically, mentally. There were times when I thought 'This man is mad, i'm going to kill him,' but there was always a purpose. There was an understanding between him and I and everything paid off in the end. Everything was understood between us. I really appreciate and respect how he went about his business. He was a really good coach and I'll miss that bugger. I won't lie. I'll miss him."
• Full story: Knauf
This post was edited on 2/6 6:08 PM by Kyle_GoldandBlack.com
• He greatly appreciates the well wishes and support he's received on social media. He knows how it can be sometimes, but says he's not received one negative comment.
"You never know how important you are - I'm not trying to say I'm a big deal or anything because I wasn't - but when you see the reaction, you're like 'Wow, I was somewhat of a help and more of a benefit than I thought I was,'" he said. "It's nice, but it's sad that I can't help them out any more. I can't show them what else I was capable of and how else I could help the team. But it's life. Some things come to an end abruptly, some things last a lot longer."
One tweet stuck out.
"There's a lot of people who have put a smile on my face with their tweets at me," he said. "There's a guy who tweeted at me and said 'Loved seeing you play. Enjoy the early retirement with a game of shuffleboard and early dinners,' and that made me laugh. I really appreciate everything people have said on Twitter or Facebook, any type of media. Everyone was very kind and appreciative of what little I've done for football. I wasn't out there much, but when I was I put everything I had into it."
• Knauf says he learned a ton from his incident a couple years ago, when he and a teammate were arrested on a shoplifting charge at a local department store.
"That was by far the dumbest thing I've done, especially with the opportunity I have," he said. "I look back and I'm like 'Why risk a half million dollar education, the network of people you've met, the coaches you've met, the friends, the alumni, everything that was caused by and given to me by Purdue? Why would you ever do that?'
"I don't know. It was a dumb and a very instantaneous decision. I'll regret that to the day I die. But I learned a lot from it. I matured quickly through it. As much as I say 'Man, I wish that didn't happen,' sadly, I'm glad it happened because it made me a bigger man and a more mature man, learned to handle a lot of things differently."
To Knauf's credit back then, he faced it, took his suspension and seemed to speak from the heart to media shortly afterward, expressing his regret, embarrassment and an apology.
"My parents raised me that if you mess up, it's your problem and you need to do this or that right away, apologize, whatever needs to be done. It's in your ballpark," he said. "You have complete reign over what you do next. When I did it and things went downhill, I thought 'You've got to do what you have to do.' And as much as I didn't want to do (speak), I had to do it. It was hard, but you live and learn and I won't make that mistake ever again."
• Knauf and Kevin Sherman had a very close bond, it seems, to the point where he had to hold back some emotion when talking about his former position coach.
"I was extremely sad to see Sherman leave," he said. "He was probably one of the most influential, my favorite coaches I've ever encountered. I think what he taught me on and off the field, I'm going to apply it to life. The things he taught me and the other guys are things that most coaches wouldn't dare to do. He pushed buttons that have never been pushed inside my head, physically, mentally. There were times when I thought 'This man is mad, i'm going to kill him,' but there was always a purpose. There was an understanding between him and I and everything paid off in the end. Everything was understood between us. I really appreciate and respect how he went about his business. He was a really good coach and I'll miss that bugger. I won't lie. I'll miss him."
• Full story: Knauf
This post was edited on 2/6 6:08 PM by Kyle_GoldandBlack.com
