Despite COVID-19 uncertainty, State High football’s Sammy Knipe is confident in Navy commitment
Sammy Knipe was hoping to take more recruiting visits before he made his college decision, but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic made that impossible. Instead Knipe — and other high schoolers around the country — had to make do with what he had in search of a home at which to play football at the next level.
For the State College senior, that meant taking trips on his own to find what he wanted in a college.
“I was just looking for a place to go that I could call home,” he said. “Somewhere that had good football and could set me up for the rest of my life. ... I would have loved to go out and see more places, gotten to talk to more coaches and done more official visits, but I was still able to go out and do my thing and see schools on my own.”
That led Knipe — a safety for the Little Lions — to Annapolis, Maryland, to traverse the campus of the United States Naval Academy.
The visit, which took place last weekend — and was his only trip to campus — sealed the deal for Knipe.
He committed to Navy while he was still in Annapolis and announced the decision via his personal Twitter account.
“I feel my heart has found a home away from home,” he said in the tweet. “You grow through what you go through. Be the change you want to see.”
The decision was settled for the senior safety because he found exactly what he wanted in Annapolis, and he felt the time was right for him to make the call.
“There’s no other school that will set you up for life like the Naval Academy does,” he said. “It’s just a great place to go where I can play big-time football but also do big things off the field. ...There’s a lot of uncertainty right now, if we’re going to be playing or not. It just felt like a good time for me to put my foot down and make a decision.”
While he couldn’t communicate with the Navy coaching staff because of the NCAA recruiting dead period, his tour proved to be more valuable than previous recruiting visits.
Knipe was also able to get to the Bronx to see Fordham and West Point — where former teammate Nathan Lusk is set to play football — to see the United States Military Academy on visits before the pandemic. He talked to their coaching staffs and listened to their pitches on why he should go to college at each school, but ultimately traveled home uncommitted.
The State High senior had offers from all three programs he visited, but could have gained more during his senior season. But getting more offers didn’t matter, because he’d found a place to call home.
“That really wasn’t a concern for me,” Knipe said. “There’s really no place I’d rather go than Naval Academy, so I’m not really trying to prove anything to anybody right now.”
Penn State was one of the schools who had previous contact with Knipe, although they never extended an offer. The senior safety — whose older brother Luke Knipe competes for the Nittany Lions’ track and field team — said he wanted to take his own path in life.
“My parents always said they didn’t want all three of their kids to end up going to Penn State,” Knipe said with a laugh. “So I thought I’d switch it up and do something different.”
