NORMAL, Ill. - One month removed from the announcement of its initial 16-person signing class for the 2009 season, the Illinois State football team has added another member to its 2009 squad with the signing of Washington prep Jake Knecht (pronounced kuh-NET), Redbird football head coach Brock Spack announced Tuesday.
Knecht will join a 2009 Illinois State football recruiting class that was ranked as the 10th-best at the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level, according to Rivals.com.
"Jake is a very athletic receiver who can play both inside and outside wide receiver," said Spack. "He is also a good kick returner, which makes him a versatile asset to our program. Jake will add some depth and versatility to our receiving corps, which is something that we were looking to do with this year's recruiting class."
Knecht was a member of two-straight Washington Class 4A State Championship teams as a member of the Skyline High School football team. Skyline was ranked No. 1 in the state of Washington in both 2007 and 2008, and had a No. 5 national ranking in the USA Today High School Super 25 Poll in 2008 and a No. 17 national ranking in 2007.
He was ranked as a two-star recruit by Scout.com following his senior season and earned second-team all-conference offensive honors and honorable mention all-conference defensive honors during his senior year. Knecht was named a Seattle Times Offensive Athlete of the Week in 2008 and was a four-time Skyline High School player of the game in 2008
In 2007, the Seattle Times ranked Knecht as one of the top-100 football student-athletes in the state of Washington.
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