RB Shekai Mills-Knight building bond with Coach Merritt

DMoney

Mar 7, 2024 2 min read

The Canadian Invasion has begun. After signing Isaiah Thomas and landing Akheem Mesidor as a transfer, the Canes have offered 6’2, 215-pound RB Shekai Mills-Knight from Montreal. Like many talented Canadian prospects, Mills-Knight has ventured south to pursue his football career, landing at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mills-Knight is currently unranked but boasts offers from Oregon, Auburn, Wisconsin and Miami.

If it was up to his mom, Mills-Knight never would have gone down the gridiron path.

"My mom didn't want me to play," Mills-Knight recounts. "She was like, that's a dangerous sport."

His father supported his football ambitions, and Mills-Knight took up the sport at the age of 7. With a large frame and track speed (his uncle was Usain Bolt's track coach), Mills-Knight developed into the top running back in Quebec. Unfortunately, after moving to Tennessee to seek better competition, he fractured his ankle. Mills-Knight rehabbed every day, missing the first four weeks but finishing his junior season with 1,200 total yards and being named All-State.

He prides himself on running angry and models his game after Eddie George and Marshawn Lynch. In fact, Eddie George personally offered him as the head coach of Tennessee State.

“I run extremely hard. Like you see in the tape, I fall forward all the time. It's just muscle memory for me to fall forward and fight for extra yards.”

Schools like Tennessee, Ole Miss, Auburn and Florida are in pursuit, but Mills-Knight has developed a strong relationship with new Hurricanes RB coach Matt Merritt. He quickly set up an official visit to Miami on the loaded June 7th weekend.

"Miami, as soon as I got in contact with them, they're all showing love," he said. “From the moment we connected, I really liked him because he's a man of God, just like me. I grew up in church.”

Mills-Knight, who is of Jamaican descent, is also well aware of the quality of Jamaican food in Miami. “I know Florida. I got friends down there and they be telling me like, it's the real deal.”

Mills-Knight is also taking unofficials to Michigan, Michigan State and Liberty.

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Comments (128)

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bdcane4eva

Jun 5, 2024

RB 1

C
COCane4Life

Jun 6, 2024

Dwinstitles said:
**** nah u wylin this kid ain’t getting tackled in college. There is a reason the SEC and OSU after him harder than they are a BL. 215 u can’t arm tackle between the hashes unless you have an elite DL which most teams do not. Saban has showed size with burst is important, pause.

I’m trying my best not to disrespect Byron Louis but I simply cannot pass on 6-2 220 with 4.4 speed. SMK seems like an easy decision and if he doesn’t work out I can live with it. Give me the bigger faster guy and let’s ride

Bender

Jun 6, 2024

My guy runs a 10.9 100 meter at 6'2 220... THE DUDE IS 16/17, WHAT THE ****

Dwinstitles

Jun 6, 2024

COCane4Life said:
I’m trying my best not to disrespect Byron Louis but I simply cannot pass on 6-2 220 with 4.4 speed. SMK seems like an easy decision and if he doesn’t work out I can live with it. Give me the bigger faster guy and let’s ride

Facts me I have no loyalty to where u grew up at or where u from. Bring me the better prospect with more intangibles even if he lives in Pakistan and plays against 5 year olds.

canecrazy23

Jun 6, 2024

Dwinstitles said:
**** nah u wylin this kid ain’t getting tackled in college. There is a reason the SEC and OSU after him harder than they are a BL. 215 u can’t arm tackle between the hashes unless you have an elite DL which most teams do not. Saban has showed size with burst is important, pause.

Yeah this kid is better than BL IMO and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Dwinstitles

Jun 6, 2024

canecrazy23 said:
Yeah this kid is better than BL IMO and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

He bascially like Benson at FSU who torched us cause he ran through arm tackles and was zooming. Maybe these small backs are fast but the minute and arm touches them the other 10 guys on defense catch up cause they tripping over themselves.

B
Brock Berlin

Jun 6, 2024

Yo this dudes HUDL is

Kansas Cane

Jun 6, 2024

canecrazy23 said:
Yeah this kid is better than BL IMO and I'm not the only one who feels this way.

You aren't. SMK is just scratching the surface.

Bender

Jun 6, 2024

Brock Berlin said:
Yo this dudes HUDL is

Seen it too. Angles don't matter with him... and DBs don't either

J
Jassid82

Jun 6, 2024

So sounds like this kid is about to blow up by end of summer. Secret is out. Hope we just keep chopping away. Last jamaican recruit I thought we would have an edge with due to SoFla and the diverse community was Nicholas Harbor. That joker ended up in a cow town. Lol. So we will see how this one pans out.

JHallCanes

Jun 6, 2024

htownkidd said:
Prefer this kid over Louis/Pringle/any other back we are in it for honestly. He should be rated much higher IMO.

Dang I gotta take a look. Big fan of Pringle

C
CT Cane 44

Jun 6, 2024

Give me this big fast SOB with Pringle and I’m good. Louis is a nice player but you take the best of the best

Dwinstitles

Jun 6, 2024

Jassid82 said:
So sounds like this kid is about to blow up by end of summer. Secret is out. Hope we just keep chopping away. Last jamaican recruit I thought we would have an edge with due to SoFla and the diverse community was Nicholas Harbor. That joker ended up in a cow town. Lol. So we will see how this one pans out.

Yup the secret is out and every bag school is on him. Means the eval was spot on, have to land this one we need a back like this.

2
24/7canes

Jun 6, 2024

would we take 3 rb ? I mean the room is a bit bare.

Dwinstitles

Jun 6, 2024

24/7canes said:
would we take 3 rb ? I mean the room is a bit bare.

I think that depends on the 26 class and who’s out there. That has to factor into it I think

passitback

Jun 6, 2024

Dwinstitles said:
Facts me I have no loyalty to where u grew up at or where u from. Bring me the better prospect with more intangibles even if he lives in Pakistan and plays against 5 year olds.

Big facts. I fux with this 100

Dwinstitles

Jun 6, 2024

passitback said:
Big facts. I fux with this 100

I’m all for sfla athletes but the right ones. Back when I first started following recruiting I learned on scout sfla over everything but with watching and following all these years it has to be the right ones. People would spin it like everyone was elite but it wasn’t true when they got to college. You can ball from anywhere dead ***. As long as you got the intangibles and numbers you can be good from somewhere else. I’m pretty sure 98% of the comp that comes from sfla yearly or Texas or anywhere else doesn’t do ****. You have to eval the right ones. Are there more elite ones in sfla? Yes but still even with the tough competition that all of them are going through most don’t do anything. Cause they spin that competition **** but that goes for every player playing there and it doesn’t help most. You are what you are it’s that simple.