A husband, father and linebacker, Demetrius Knight shares why South Carolina has 'felt like home'
Demetrius Knight Jr. just wanted to be at a place where what he did mattered to people.
At his two previous schools, Georgia Tech followed by Charlotte, football wasn’t at the forefront. Georgia Tech is more known for its academics compared to athletics, with a football program that hasn’t been relevant — on a national scale — in years. And Charlotte hasn’t had a winning season in five seasons.
“At Georgia Tech, most people are there just to get an education,” Knight explained. “I love Charlotte, but day in, day out, you don’t know what you’re going to get from fans. Sometimes they’ll boo you, sometimes they’ll cheer you on.”
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So for his final year of college, Knight decided he wanted to go somewhere with a passion for the sport. And he didn’t have to go very far to find what he was looking for. He landed on South Carolina and noticed an immediate difference.
“Right off the bat, these guys care more. It’s not fake when you see it on TV that ‘It Just Means More’ in the SEC. I always used to wonder what that meant when I would see those commercials on TV. But now being here at South Carolina, being in the SEC, being in a college town with people who actually love football,” the sixth-year linebacker said.
“Here, it’s love up and down. That’s what the biggest thing about it is — it just means more. That’s the thing I felt here. Everybody wants to compete. You don’t feel deflated going into a game. You go into a game, you go into a season with a high mindset, with a high standard. I think that’s what engulfs this program.”
Moving up to play in the SEC was the main goal for Knight as it will only help him in his quest to reach the next level. But there’s another reason, a deeper and more important one behind why he joined South Carolina.
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Knight considers himself to be a “very big family guy.” He’s not only a husband, but he’s also a father to two kids with a daughter and son, who was recently born in June. Making sure they were taken care of was his top priority, which was something he struggled with last year.
“At Charlotte, I couldn’t bring them around the facility a whole lot just because it was a new staff, not many wives were around,” Knight said. “In Charlotte and other places, you can kind of feel alienated, especially moving around like I have.”
But at South Carolina, it’s not like that at all. Knight said the other players with wives are always around the program. For his wife and children, it was important to him that they had a place where they could feel welcomed. And that’s ultimately what sold Knight on coming to Columbia.
“Here, it felt like home,” Knight said. “The ‘Welcome Home’ thing isn’t just for show. You really do feel like you’re at home. And then once the recruiting visit and everything stops, the love that you feel from everybody doesn’t stop either; it continues when you get here.”
With his family in a good place, Knight feels comfortable being here and ready to begin the season with his new team. Regardless of how things shake out with the Gamecocks, he knows he’ll always have those he cares about most nearby. And that’s all he could ever want.
“I have a new outlook on life,” he said. “That’s the best part of it to me. I get to go out there, know that I’m leaving everything on the table at practice, on the field on Saturdays, and then I can shut it off and go home whether I think I had a bad game, or if it’s a good game, I get to reset and go home and be with them.”
