High school football: Medina receiver Austin Knowles getting known

Medina wide receiver Austin Knowles hasn't dropped a pass from quarterback Danny Stoddard this season. It's a different story when he attempts to haul in throws from his father Demarr, a former Texas high school running back who went on to play semi-pro ball overseas. In a practice ritual borrowed from Odell Beckham Jr., Demarr will take his son to the field for extra work and intentionally throw balls high, low, behind and well in front of him. The message from father to son is clear: If you touch it, you should catch it. "He's definitely my No. 1 fan," Knowles said. "He drives me everywhere in the summer to camps. He's the one taking me on road trips. He's the one signing me up for personal trainers and stuff. "He pushes me pretty hard, but that's what it takes. If you want to be great, you have to be pushed a little. He pushes me every day to be better than I am now." At 6-foot-1, 185 pounds with 4.55-second speed in the 40-yard dash, the 16-year-old Knowles is already pretty darn good as the Bees (3-1) prepare to host Strongsville (2-2, 0-1) tonight at 7 in their Greater Cleveland Conference opener. Through four games, the junior has 35 catches for 591 yards (16.9 average) and seven touchdowns. It's scary — and probably a bit unfair — to think about, but at that pace he would finish with 105 receptions for 1,773 yards and 21 TDs if Medina played 12 games this season. Add 2021 first-team Division I All-Ohio pick Brennen Schramm (36, 571, 7), Jack Wojciak (21, 328, 1) and Carlos Corchado (17, 179, 3) and the Bees aren't only continuing their winning ways, Stafford (116-for-163, .712, 1,720 yards, 18 TDs) is putting up numbers that haven't been seen since, well, Medina quarterback Drew Allar was Ohio's Mr. Football winner last year. "Austin's emergence as a great wide receiver has helped the team tremendously," Schramm said of Knowles. "You need guys to step up. It has to do with that next man up mentality. He's done that and is doing spectacularly so far. "I knew what a hard worker he was. I saw him last year and knew he had a lot of potential. He works his butt off, so he's earned it." While Allar was throwing a school-record 82 completions to Schramm last year for 1,333 yards and 14 TDs, Stoddard and Knowles spent the season working together on the junior varsity team. With Schramm the only experienced receiver returning from last year's 13-1 team, Knowles and Stoddard haven't missed a beat while going from playing on Saturday mornings to Friday nights. "The fans are just an extra part of the game," Stoddard said. "We're able to block out the noise and just play our game because our chemistry is through the roof. Through the years, I got used to how he played and he got used to how I played. We got better throughout the seasons. "He basically catches everything. He's very quick and very fast and he's able to make defenders miss. He can get open pretty easily and if he touches it, he's catching it." Knowles, who hopes to catch the eye of college scouts and eventually land a scholarship to continue his football career, had 12 catches for 169 yards and two TDs in a 43-42 loss to Avon in Week 2 and 11 receptions for 209 yards and two scores in a 45-35 win over Wadsworth in Week 3. Perhaps most impressive, he's had at least eight catches in every game since grabbing four for 90 yards in the season opener against Warren Harding. "I didn't know what to expect," Knowles said of the beginning of the season. "I thought I wasn't going to be able to keep up with the varsity kids, but I tried to keep up with Schramm. "I did a lot of work in the offseason, but I barely played varsity last year. I thought I was going to struggle a lot, but I started out strong and now I think I can do pretty well." Wojciak is Medina's fastest receiver, but Knowles and Schramm, who also runs a 4.55 40, aren't far behind. Add Corchado and that gives Stoddard plenty of options to choose from in the Bees' unique five-wide offense. "Teams can't really pick one receiver to double," Stoddard said. "It helps each receiver get open. I just throw to the open guy. There's a few times where we tell Austin to run a streak and I just throw it up there, but most of the time, it's find the weak spot and take what the defense gives us. "But if we get Austin going one on one, we're throwing it to him. Not many cornerbacks can cover him." Better still for Stoddard, Schramm and the rest of the Bees, they know that if the ball is anywhere near him, the young man who wears No. 2 is going to catch it. After all, he's had plenty of practice hauling in his dad's intentionally off-target throws. "As long as it's close and my hands touch it," Knowles said, "it should be my ball." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.