Knight ready for big visit

Detroit Renaissance three-star safety Derek Knight has been busy both on and off the field. Off the field he's set up another official visit for next weekend to West Virginia. The 6-foot, 192-pounder is pumped up about the visit, which would be his third after already visiting Arizona State and Colorado.

"I want to see West Virginia beat whoever they play," Knight said. "I'm sure that won't be a problem. Right now, I want to know exactly what the academic standings are. I hear that they have pretty good academics, so I want to see for myself. I also want to see college life up there."

Knight said he's not even ruling out a chance of committing on the official visit.

"There is a chance," he said. "There's a possibility. I've been talking about that with my parents. We've been talking about all the reasons why that would be a good decision. So I'm still thinking about it. Maybe if it's a good visit that might be a good possibility."

He's still being pushed hard by other teams, though. He does have offers from Arizona State, West Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin. But he said there's no question the Mountaineers have been recruiting him the hardest.

"I've also heard from Arizona State somewhat," he said. "Like I said though, West Virginia has been keeping close contact with me. I've also talked to Illinois and a few others recently.

"They're pretty much saying the same thing. A few schools want to see some of my senior film. I've been hearing a little from USC and Ohio State. I'm not sure if they've checked out my film yet, but those are two schools that have been contacting me. I would say West Virginia, Arizona State and Colorado are my top three. But West Virginia is playing a pretty big role with me right now."

Knight had a good senior season, but it ended with a first-round loss in the playoffs.

"We lost 19-6," he said.

"I feel like I left it all out on the field. I know I played my heart out and I played mostly defense. Unfortunately the weather was so bad that our offense had four or five turnovers. On defense, we fought the whole game. That's pretty much been the story all year. Our defense has pulling the whole load, but the offense would never get the points."