Cody White doesn’t usually get to watch a ton of NFL football. The athletic director and football coach at Brentwood Academy in Tennessee, his Sundays usually are reserved for planning for his own team. He tries to catch college games on Saturdays: There are more than 30 Brentwood alumni playing at the next level.
But last week, a Monday night game gave him a rare opportunity to watch Brentwood alum Dawson Knox. He even got to see Knox, now a tight end for the Buffalo Bills, complete a pass on a trick play two-point conversion, with quarterback Josh Allen as his receiver. And after coaching Knox, watching him develop and grow, White was a little aghast.
“I was like, ‘Good gosh, that’s bad,’ “ White said, his Tennessee drawl extending each insult. “It was an awful mechanical throw.”
He soon learned some important context for the toss: Knox had broken his hand earlier in the game, but pled his case to stay in just a little longer. The completion put the Bills up by seven, though they would eventually lose 34-31, with Knox leaving the game.
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Completing the pass in Tennessee was a bit full circle for Knox. Not only did he play quarterback in high school, but he drew on another past experience for the play.
“Never thought throwing shot put in high school would help me in the league but here we are,” Knox tweeted a few days after the play.
His shot put days came in part from an ankle injury while playing football. Otherwise, he would have been running. Floyd Elliott was an assistant throwing coach at the time, and also taught Knox in Honors Algebra II. He saw an opportunity to get Knox involved.
“We saw how explosive Dawson was – we’ll call it a quick twitch,” Elliott said. “And we thought, ‘Heck, let’s get him out and see if he can do some shot put.’ And he had relatively good success considering he didn’t have much experience at it.”
Though he was joining around six or eight guys who had been throwing the shot put for a couple of years, Knox out performed about half the group on his early attempts.
“He was already at the middle of the pack on his first throw,” Elliott said. “And so that's why we thought, 'He has a chance to help us.' ”
White recalls Knox doing well at regionals, but his real love was always football. And without practice, his coaches both joke that his precision has dropped a bit.
“Well, let's just say he's diminished on his quarterbacking skills since he's moved to tight end,” Elliott said, laughing.
And as for his shot put?
“Form needs to be revisited there as well,” Elliott said.
Elliott gives the technical breakdown: A good shot put throw starts under the chin or neck, while Knox’s heave came from the side of his body. It relies on a straight arm propelling the dense ball, and needs more power from one’s legs, he explains.
“I’m not sure his was true shot put form, but close enough,” Elliott said.
Still, it was a joke that Knox made outside of Twitter, too.
“He called, and he said, ‘Yeah, I shot-putted that thing,’ “ White said. “I was making fun of him throwing, I was like, ‘That's embarrassing. I worked with you as a quarterback, and that throw was awful.’ Of course, his hand was broken, I was just messing with him.”
The absolute dragging of Knox’s throw by both coaches comes from a place of real endearment. They’ve been thrilled to see how Knox has done in the league, especially after an unusual way of getting there. Ahead of the injury, which likely will sideline him for a few more weeks, Knox was having a breakout year with 286 yards on 21 catches and five touchdowns in six games. The third-year tight end had five touchdowns total his first two seasons in the league. White sees those stats and the two-point conversion itself as testaments to Knox's hypercompetitive drive.
“He wasn't going to come out, because they called the heavy package, and he's in that, because it's all the tight ends and (they) didn’t have enough,” White said. “He's just one of those kinds of kids, where he's a winner and it's not surprising.”
White has seen Knox’s determination to stay on the field for years. After a brutal injury in high school, he went to Ole Miss as a walk-on, where he made the transition to tight end. He's comfortable proving that he should be on the field, even when injured.
“I was trying to call the play off,” Allen said after the game. “I was shaking my hands at Dabes (offensive coordinator Brian Daboll) like, ‘Don’t call it, we can’t do it.’ And (Knox) looked at me and said, ‘I got it. I’ll get it to ya.’
“So to put your body on the line like that and grit through it, that was a big time play and that’s awesome when a teammate is willing to do that, and that’s why we love him.”
The Knox-to-Allen connection was something that the Bills practiced on Day 1 of training camp. The two teammates are close, celebrating earlier this season with a prom pose. But even with great chemistry and a spicy play call, there's always some risk.
“Those are always fun when they work, but you look like an idiot when you're a coach and they don’t,” White said. “But it worked out pretty well. It's either really good, or you look really, really bad. So they had done a good job signing it and I'm sure they know what kind of coverage they're gonna get anyway, and I won't ever counsel the quarterback as a general rule.”
Sure enough, Allen was quite open. Knox just had to put it to him.
But wrapped in all the questionable mechanics, a deeper truth emerged to Elliott. Even if Knox’s throw wasn’t perfect shot put form, and even if the tweet was partially a joke, former coaches could see their influence on the player and person Knox is today.
“Oh, it's very gratifying,” Elliott said. “It just sums up what some kids, how they understand that a lot of different people pour into them in their lives when they're growing up. And for them to remember something like that, it’s just gratifying. Whether it's serious or in jest, it was a part of their life, and they appreciated it. And it makes us appreciate it as well.”
Knox’s parents, David and Rachel, are both Brentwood alumni, as are a number of extended family members, White noted.
“They’re really ingrained in the Brentwood Academy community,” White said.
So it’s no surprise that Knox maintains those relationships. He spent part of the bye week in Tennessee, having surgery on his hand. He catches up with old coaches when he can. He’ll grab lunch with White, though with one condition.
“I was making fun of him because I still have to switch – every other lunch, I have to buy, which makes me laugh, because he makes a lot more money than I do,” White said. “He's a tightwad.”
It seems to be a situational approach to budgeting: Knox is doing a seasonlong campaign in which he donates to the P.U.N.T. Pediatric Cancer Collaborative. Similar to the two-point conversion, it's no surprise for those who have watched him grow up.
“He has a big heart, that's all I can say,” Elliott said. “He would do anything for a friend, or probably even a stranger, if he could, if he had the time and the ability. He’s just a big-hearted guy, and I know he just loves what he does.”
