Good Knight: Why Trevor Knight can be Aggies' answer at quarterback

Here comes the Knight.

Is Noel Mazzone working on his Knight moves? Will anxious Aggies spend the remainder of the football offseason having daydreams about Knight things in the middle of the afternoon?

Will Knight fall?

Or will he rescue Texas A&M’s offense like a Knight in shining armor?

Obviously, Monday’s announcement that senior transfer Trevor Knight is Texas A&M’s starting quarterback to begin the 2016 football season provides outstanding opportunity for plays on words.

But does it provide the same for play on the field?

Is Knight the championship-caliber quarterback he appeared to be when he threw four touchdown passes to earn Most Valuable Player honors in a 45-31 Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama?

Or is he the merely average quarterback who passed for 2,300 yards and 14 touchdowns with 12 interceptions as the Sooners’ starter in 2014?

The answer, as usual, is probably somewhere in the middle. That would be enough to be embraced — even celebrated — in College Station because quarterback play has been so consistently inconsistent and monumentally unstable since Johnny Manziel left for the NFL after the 2013 season.

Knight is known as a high-character, standup guy. Therefore, Aggies won’t have to worry about their starting quarterback having off-field issues.

Also, Knight is said to possess natural leadership skills. Therefore, the quarterback probably won’t resort to awkward pregame dances or profane tirades as means of motivating himself or teammates.

Of course, what really matters is whether Knight can consistently play at a high level against Southeastern Conference defenses.

There understandably will be some doubts because he did not play at a consistently high level against atrocious Big 12 defenses.

Yet, there are four reasons to anticipate Knight could be vastly more productive as a starter for A&M despite facing stronger defenses in the SEC.

He’s older. Knight was a mere sophomore in ’14 with very little playing experience. He threw just 134 passes and nine touchdowns the previous year. Almost half of his touchdown total came in the Sugar Bowl. Most players are better in their second year as a starter than in their first. Similarly, most players are better as seniors than they are as sophomores.

Better receivers. Knight had the exciting Sterling Shepard in 2014, but no other OU receivers really turned heads. The Sooners’ second-leading receiver that year was Durron Neal, who caught almost a fourth of his passes that year (10) in one game against Iowa State. Now you know why Bob Stoops fought so hard to get Dorial Green-Beckham eligible that year.

At A&M, Knight will be throwing to Christian Kirk, Josh Reynolds, Ricky Seals-Jones and Speedy Noil. All of them have had more productive seasons than Neal ever did.

The offensive coordinator. During his sophomore season at OU Knight was working with Josh Heupel as his offensive coordinator. Heupel, still a relatively young coach, had been a great quarterback at OU and led the Sooners to Stoops’ only national championship. Yet, Stoops fired Heupel after the 2014 season. Heupel surfaced at Utah State, which last season struggled to score and was ranked 93rd in total offense. Heupel is at Missouri now.

This year, Knight will be working with Mazzone, who has nearly two decades of experience as a major college offensive coordinator. Mazzone’s teams (at UCLA and Arizona State) have ranked among the nation’s top 40 in total offense in each of the past six years. Five times they were ranked among the top 30.

Whether mentoring Brock Osweiler at Arizona State or Brett Hundley or Josh Rosen at UCLA, Mazzone has shown a knack for getting high-quality production from his quarterbacks. The dual threat Knight appears a perfect fit for Mazzone’s system.

An improved defense. If the Aggies had managed 30 points in every game last season they would have finished 12-1. The Aggies' defense made impressive strides in its first season under Defensive Coordinator John Chavis and projects to be better this season. That means Knight doesn’t have to necessarily win games for the Aggies as much as he is just needed to manage games.

Knight isn’t needed to be a star — he just needs to be a solid quarterback that can get the football to A&M’s playmakers and avoid making too many mistakes.

It won’t make the Aggies favorites to win the SEC West, but if Knight proves an adequate quarterback this fall, A&M can at least have a fighting chance on Saturday nights.

And Saturday Knight’s all right for fighting.