Knight Gives USC Some Double Coverage

By EARL GUSTKEY

Oct. 25, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Sammy Knight told an interviewer a couple of years ago that the one thing he couldn’t understand about football was why games weren’t played two or three times a week.

At the time, he was on his way to becoming a three-year starter at safety. Now, he’s a 212-pound linebacker and knows why there’s only one game a week.

“When I played safety, I was fresh all the time, ready to play,” he said. “Now, on Mondays, I hurt everywhere--particularly my shoulders.”

But there is nothing in the trainers’ room for the pain he and his teammates feel this week. All they can do is try to focus on the future--on games still to be played, starting Saturday at Washington State.

They would like to call the 48-35 overtime loss at Arizona State ancient history. But they can’t.

“The Arizona State game was a blow,” Knight said. “We’re pretty much out of the Rose Bowl race, and we just have to live with that. It was a big game and we lost it. But we can’t sit around and gripe.

“Washington State is a tough game. I remember our [23-10] win up there in ’94 and how hard it was. It’s really loud there and their fans are really a factor.”

Sammy Dee Knight has a way of silencing opponents’ home crowds. For his first two USC seasons, his inspiration came from his favorite video, “Ronnie Lott’s Greatest Hits.”

Now, Knight has made enough big hits to have a highlight video of his own. His 59 tackles this season are second only Chris Claiborne’s 65 on the team and he ranks fourth in the Pacific 10 Conference.

The hardest hit of his USC career?

“It was on John Herpin in the ’94 Washington State game,” Knight said with a straight face--but he couldn’t stifle the smile for more than a second or two.

Herpin was a senior USC cornerback covering a Cougar wide receiver on a crossing pattern. The receiver ducked and Knight put a shot on Herpin that the cornerback will never forget.

“We had to help Herpin off the field,” Knight said. “I really laid him out. He was angry at me the rest of the season. And when it came up in the game film, everyone laughed and he got angry all over again.”

How about Knight’s best hit on an opponent?

“[It was on quarterback] Pat Barnes in the Cal game last year,” he said. “He was scrambling and I got him head-on. But he’s a tough guy. He jumped right up and said, ‘Great hit!’ That kind of surprised me, so I said, ‘Thanks.’ ”

Whenever USC needs a big defensive play, Knight has a role in it. Last Saturday, for example, when Claiborne intercepted Jake Plummer’s pass, setting up the Trojans’ first touchdown, Knight tipped the pass toward Claiborne.

Claiborne’s sensational play--39 tackles against Cal and Arizona State--at middle linebacker this season is making Knight even more effective.

“Chris is [playing] the best linebacker play since I’ve been here,” he said. “He’s so good, I can cheat a little to the outside. For a freshman to grasp all this, it’s amazing. I’m really impressed by his game preparation.”

Knight is USC’s weak-side linebacker, lining up most often on the side where the opponent’s tight end isn’t. The switch from safety was not difficult.

Last spring, he got a message to see Keith Burns, USC’s defensive coordinator. When he got to Burns’ office, Coach John Robinson was there too.

“They just asked me how I felt about switching from strong safety to weak-side linebacker,” he said. “They told me it would really help the team, and that’s all they really had to say. They said they were worried about no experienced linebackers coming back, and because Grant Pearsall and Rashard Cook were coming back at safety, they felt it was a good time for me to help out at linebacker.”

Knight agreed, but some of his friends advised him to stay at safety.

“A couple of friends [not teammates, he said] told me I was already on my way to being a high NFL pick at safety, so why change now?

“I don’t see it like that. First, if it makes our defense better, I want to do it. And I don’t see myself as a safety playing linebacker. I see myself as a football player playing linebacker.

“I see myself as an NFL safety some day, but I could add weight and play linebacker too. But for now, all I’m thinking about is playing linebacker Saturday at Washington State.”

Knight is the son of Sam and Blanche Knight of Riverside, who sent another son, Ryan, to USC a dozen years ago. Ryan Knight, a tailback, led USC in rushing for two consecutive seasons but finished up as a backup fullback. Blanche Knight was still sore about that when Robinson rang her doorbell one night in January 1993.

Robinson had just been rehired by USC and the Knights’ home was one of his first recruiting stops. Anticipating a friendly visit with the parents, Robinson instead got a finger-wagging lecture from Blanche Knight.

She pointed out that she had sent one son to USC and her family had not been entirely happy with the result.

But Sammy signed with USC anyway, and Blanche has not had one angry word for Robinson.

On Saturday in Pullman, her son will make his 31st start.