WINDSOR — Amir Knighton had a difficult choice to make, the kind of choice that sooner or later tugs at elite high school athletes everywhere.
He could stay at Rockville High, continue playing with teammates he’s had all of his life and pursue a state championship that would mean so much in town. Or he could go the prep school route, emphasize to college coaches that he can produce yards and touchdowns against the best competition.
He made a list, added up the score.
“I really had to weigh the pros and cons of it,” Knighton said, after an afternoon of practice and weight training at The Loomis Chaffee School, his new football address. “The home aspect of it, that was my favorite part. I had so many fans in the stands, they’re all cheering your name as you walk through the hallways, you’re a big star. Sometimes people let that get to their heads and you can’t have that.
“… I don’t want to hear how good I am, I want to hear how good I can get in the future.”
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That was the decision in a nutshell. Knighton helped Rockville get to the CIAC Class M final as a freshman in 2021, then lost his sophomore season to a torn ACL and meniscus in his left knee. He made an electrifying comeback in 2023, rushing for 1,594 yards, and scoring 34 touchdowns, both school records, with a school-record 16 sacks on the defensive side. The Rams returned to the Class M final, where Knighton gained 100 yards and scored a TD in a loss to Hand-Madison.
At Loomis, Knighton will likely focus on offense, get snaps at running back and slot receiver, which could end up being his position in college. He has taken the option to reclassify to the Class of 2026, giving him an extra year to make up for the season he lost, get bigger, stronger, faster for a run at an FBS college offer. The emotion out of it, Knighton and his family made a football-business decision, joining another former Rockville standout, lineman Jackson Torres, at Loomis Chaffee, which has players from all across the country, but several from Connecticut.
“Being with players that are just as good as me, or better than me, it’s going to help me develop my game in every other way, I’m going to get better,” Knighton said. “If I’m at Rockville, I can do everything my way and be good, but here I’ve got people in front of me, I’ve got people challenging me from the back, so I’ve got to go 100 every single day. The speed of the game is way faster and that’s what I’m going to need in college, that’s the reality of it. I’m choosing to do this now so I can be better prepared in the future.”
After a scrimmage with Belmont Hill on Friday, Loomis (4-4, 4-2 in the Founders League in 2023), opens the new season at Taft in Watertown on Sept. 21, with Avon Old Farms and Suffield to follow.
“We watched Amir as he was having a great season last year,” Loomis coach Adam Banks said. “Watched him through the whole year and we were able to visit him in January. It’s a testimony, one, to his ability on the field and to his performance in the classroom, too. He demonstrated the ability to flourish in this environment. We offered the reclass option for kids that are a year behind due to an injury, and for kids that are achieving at a really high level and are looking for just a new challenge. Both of those are true for Amir. Making the switch to here is going to provide some additional challenges for him.”
At Rockville, where coach Erick Knickerbocker has built a perennial CIAC contender during his seven years, Knighton, an All-Stater as a junior, will obviously be missed, but the ties remain intact as the Rams pursue a title without him.
“Amir has been recruited by private schools since he was in seventh grade,” Knickerbocker said. “So there was a lot of pressure on him. He really wanted to play at a high level. At a public school, we don’t want to lose a player like Amir, but we also don’t want to prevent him from his dreams. So the process was pretty intense.”
Knickerbocker said he and his assistants talked to coaches from more than 30 colleges to get feedback on Knighton.
“I did not want to give him advice like, ‘We want you to come back so we can win a state championship,'” Knickerbocker said. “With a kid like this, you do your homework. All this was really difficult with him, because our core group of seniors, he has been playing with since he was 7 years old. At the end of the day, he made a decision he thought was best for him.”
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Knighton and Knickerbocker stay in touch. “It’s just all love over there (at Rockville),” Knighton said. “There are no hard feelings at all.”
Knighton was at Syracuse’s camp in June, which he called an “amazing experience, high energy,” and at the Best of New England camp in Springfield, among other chances to showcase. Now that he is in the Class of ’26, the recruiting process has slowed down, to pick up as he progresses along the prep route.
“They’re going to see the same player as last year,” Knighton said. “Elite, fast, ball-catcher. I’m going to get into that end zone. An electric player, all-round.”
There are adjustments to make, to dorm life on a quiet, sprawling campus, a new schedule with different priorities, new teammates.
“There are things that can frustrate any player when you’re doing something new,” Banks said. “But he’s always going to come to practice working hard and he’s been a sponge for knowledge. He’s great to work with and we’re excited about it, excited about what he’s going to be able to do. For Amir, has really risen to the occasion of working hard to separate himself, because everybody here in his position and across from him is pretty high level and have the same aspirations.”
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He has success behind him and is confident there will be more success in front of him. Amir could have stayed put, but he went into attack mode, put the “chase” in chasing his college football dream, and the chase has led him to Loomis Chaffee.
“I’m adjusting well here, everyone is so welcoming,” he said. “I’m already close to all the boys on the team, it’s been a blessing. I would tell someone, ‘Weigh all the pros and cons, what’s your situation?’
“I wouldn’t tell anybody to look at anybody else. What do you want for yourself? It’s not anybody else’s career. What do you want for yourself? That’s what it comes down to. Look at the pros and cons, and if one beats the other, that’s where you’ve got to go.”