Recruiting Report: Tanner Knue (2018)
Division III schools looking for a hard-nosed, high-academic point guard in the senior class should start making moves on Mason’s 5’10”-5’11” floor general Tanner Knue (2018). To no surprise, some programs already have reached out to him.
“There’s a lot of D-III schools coming after me. I’ve been in contact a lot with University of Chicago, Capital, Otterbein, and Case Western. And Pikeville University is the latest school to reach out to my coach, my AAU coach,” Knue said.
Knue is in the middle of the high school football season right now, so he’s waiting to take campus visits until the winter. As a 3.9 GPA student that carries a 26 ACT (which he will re-take), a recruiting pitch to Knue should definitely involve academics.
“I value academics because basketball or football can be taken away from me at any time. But it’s that education that will stay with you your whole life,” Knue said. “I don’t know specifically [what I’m going to study in college], but something in business.”
As far as football goes, this is Knue’s first season on the team since he was a freshman. He didn’t mention anybody recruiting him as a wide receiver. He’s really just happy to be out there competing.
“I played freshman but this is my first varsity football … I just missed it and love competing. I just wanted another sport to compete it,” Knue said.
As a junior on the basketball court, Knue averaged 9.1 points (39-51-26 shooting splits), 1.3 assists, and 1.6 steals, per Cincinnati.com. With the graduation of point guard Eddie Puisis, who is now playing for Nova Southeastern, Knue’s production should see an uptick.
“I feel like stepping up on offense and wanting the role of guarding the best player on the opposite team is going to be my role this year.”
“We got to play with a chip on our shoulder because everyone around the league, everyone at school thinks that we lost so many guys that we’re not going to be good this year. So we’re going to prove people wrong by playing hard on defense and playing as a team,” Knue said.
Knue expects to impact the game mainly by penetrating.
“Whether my shots not falling or anything, I always bring to the table driving-and-kicking it out or finishing in the lane,” Knue said.
He also handles the game like a true point guard, with his ability to understand time and score. Going forward, Knue is looking to add more confidence as a mid-range shooter, in order to compliment his finishing ability.