Promising Stars Are Still Waiting for a Place to Sign

Four weeks ago, Ken Knoop was so close to his dream he could almost visualize it: A brand new jersey, his own dressing stall, three big training meals each day.

Knoop, a highly regarded tight end and linebacker from Burroughs High, was talking to college coaches regularly and planning recruiting visits to San Diego State, Fresno State, USC, Oregon State, Utah and Pittsburgh.

“I’m definitely going Division I,” Knoop said. “But I won’t decide until after my trips.”

The weeks have come and gone.

Knoop never took a trip. The phone calls stopped, and a scholarship was never offered to Knoop, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound All-Foothill League selection.

“Signing day is tomorrow and nothing’s happening,” he said Tuesday night. “It just all of a sudden went dead.”

Knoop is one of a handful of standout players in the Valley who have become victims of scholarship reductions.

For cost cutting reasons, the NCAA imposed a gradual reduction in football scholarships from 95 to 85 from 1991-93.

The impact is far from subtle. In the Pacific 10 Conference alone, 100 fewer scholarships are available, leaving players like Knoop out in the cold.

Four years ago, UCLA assistant coach Gary Bernardi would have recruited Knoop based on his potential. Today he can’t afford to take that chance.

“Four years ago, we might have taken three wide receivers in a year when we didn’t need wide receivers,” said Bernardi, who has recruited Valley players for 14 years for Arizona, USC and UCLA. “We’d have taken a guy like Knoop. Now, in an off year, we’ll take one to two.

“Our hands are tied.”

Bernardi is more aware of Knoop’s ability than other recruiters assigned to the Valley. Two years ago, during a one-year hiatus from his college career, Bernardi was Knoop’s head coach at Burroughs.

“Kenny Knoop has a lot of intangibles that make you real interested,” Bernardi said of his former player who drew raves from Foothill League coaches despite catching only 18 passes last season. “But when it comes down to pounding the table for that kind of player . . . . there’s a lot of question marks, too.”

With the reduction in scholarships, Bernardi said he and other recruiters can’t afford to take risks by signing “question mark” players. Instead, they grapple for the elites.

“And that’s tragic,” he said.

Several players who were selected to the Times’ All-Valley and All-Ventura teams seem to have fallen into the “question mark” category:

* Nathan Coyle, a 6-2, 220-pound linebacker from Buena.

* Matt Gillis, a 6-4, 206-pound defensive end from Saugus.

* Brian Pereira, a 6-3, 235-pound linebacker from Quartz Hill.

* Ryan Schienle, a 6-3, 280-pound offensive lineman from Hart.

* Caleb Smith, a 6-3, 215-pound defensive lineman from Antelope Valley.

* Paul Walters, a 6-5, 280-pound offensive lineman from Hart.

They have the size, the grades and the talent, but they’ve been caught in a numbers game. The reasons are many.

Arizona assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt, who competes against Bernardi in the recruiting game, said some of them lack experience or physical maturity. There might be a wealth of talent, or a lack of demand at certain positions.

Some of these players could wind up getting a scholarship to a small Division I or lower-level school in the coming weeks, Hammerschmidt said.

Schienle, the best player on the biggest offensive line in Hart history (Sant Sikand, a 6-7, 300-pound teammate, got a scholarship to Syracuse) was contacted for the first time this week by Idaho.

Smith, the Golden League’s Lineman of the Year, is being courted by Eastern New Mexico, an NAIA Division II team.

Said Hammerschmidt: “The leftovers are great players, too.”

Great players who have become skeptical of recruiters.

Schienle, like most others, received a flood of phone calls. Recruiting trips were set up, then canceled, sometimes at the last minute. And often with no explanation.

“They all said I was good enough to play Division I,” Schienle said. “ ‘There’s no doubt in our mind you can play here.’ But they decided on someone else.

“I talked to the Idaho coach for the first time two weeks ago and he said, ‘I’d like you to come here.’ You know how they are. They all say that.”

Faced with the alternative of playing at a junior college, both Walters and Gillis say they might not play at all. But there should still be plenty of talent to go around.

“Especially this year, there’s a lot of good players out there that are getting overlooked,” Valley College Coach Jim Fenwick said. “But it’s not the end of the world if a scholarship doesn’t come their way.”

Fenwick hopes he can feast on what Hammerschmidt calls “the leftovers.” He has already acquired his son, Tyler Fenwick, who caught 41 passes at Chaminade last season. But with the trickling down of talent, Jim Fenwick said junior college coaches could spark their own recruiting war.

“We want to get better linemen,” he said.

How about Walters from Hart? Colorado and Washington have backed off.

“Can you believe that?” Fenwick said.

Or how about Anthony Patricio, a 6-4, 290-pounder from Van Nuys who stopped hearing from Cal and Oregon?

“Great kid, great player, great strength and work habits,” Fenwick said. “If he does not get the opportunity to go to a four-year school, that’s the kind of guy we’d love to get into our program.”

Coyle of Buena, the Channel League Defensive Player of the Year, warmed up to the idea of playing in junior college after former teammate Jason Bendinelli got a scholarship to UCLA after one season at Ventura College. He’ll be a Bruin for three years.

“You’ve got to consider it,” Coyle said.

And if Bendinelli’s good fortune doesn’t brighten one’s horizon, that of Richard Dice should. The former Alemany wide receiver didn’t get his scholarship to Arizona until the summer following his high-school graduation. Dice was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention choice last season as a sophomore.

“Nobody else was offering and we happened to have an extra scholarship for him,” Hammerschmidt said. “We signed him really late. We almost missed on him.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Where They’re Headed

This is a partial list of junior college players from the region who have declared their college choice s .

Player School Pos. Ht. Wt. Jim Arellanes Valley QB 6-4 210 Calvin Bell Glendale DE 6-3 230 Jason Bendinelli Ventura TE 6-4 230 Brian Comer Valley WR 5-11 185 Phil Cook Glendale LB 6-3 265 Chad Fotheringham Snow (Utah)/Hart High QB 6-6 225 David Hairston Moorpark LB 6-0 235 Doyle Holman Moorpark DB 6-3 195 Keith Jardine Pierce LB 6-3 225 Charles Jones Moorpark OL 6-7 300 Jason Jones Moorpark DL 6-6 225 Vince Lampkin Valley RB/WR 5-9 178 Jason Leonard Valley WR 6-2 198 DeAndros Long Valley DB 5-11 170 Karlon Mack Pierce LB 6-2 215 Jeff Maxey Moorpark LB 6-2 215 Ron McKelvey Pierce DB 6-0 190 Isaiah Mustafa Moorpark WR 6-4 208 Josh Patterson Pierce RB 6-2 234 Chris Pikes Valley DB 5-10 180 Deon Price Bakersfield/SylmarHigh QB-WR 6-3 195 Cody Smith Mt. SAC/Crespi High QB 6-3 230 Mike Steussie Valley DL 6-3 260 J.J. Teichman Glendale OL 6-4 295 C.B. Wentling Antelope Valley OL 6-1 260 Rodney Williams Pierce RB 6-1 180 Ed Yu Pierce OL 6-2 270

Player College Jim Arellanes Fresno State Calvin Bell Texas El Paso Jason Bendinelli UCLA Brian Comer California Phil Cook Arkansas Chad Fotheringham Pacific David Hairston Nevada Doyle Holman Nevada Keith Jardine NewMex.Highlands Charles Jones Brigham Young Jason Jones San Diego State Vince Lampkin Chico State Jason Leonard Massachusetts DeAndros Long Texas El Paso Karlon Mack NewMex.Highlands Jeff Maxey Boise State Ron McKelvey Texas Isaiah Mustafa Arizona State Josh Patterson Florida A&M; Chris Pikes Texas El Paso Deon Price Pacific Cody Smith Kansas State Mike Steussie Carroll College J.J. Teichman Toledo C.B. Wentling Hawaii Rodney Williams Arizona Ed Yu NewMex.Highlands