Albany Conquest Ink Two QB's
January 13, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release
Albany, N.Y., January 13, 2004 â The Albany Conquest of arenafootball2 (af2) announced today that Head Coach Steve Matthews has selected two possible quarterback candidates for the 2004 season, which begins in April. D. Bryant and Jake Knott have been assigned to the Conquest by the af2 league office.
"Jake is one of the NCAA's all-time passing leaders and D. Bryant has been a hot commodity among national scouts having posted impressive numbers playing at Duke," said Coach Matthews. "Obviously, with Ryan Vena at the Columbus Destroyer's training camp right now, we need to bring in some first-class quarterbacks for our 2004 season, which begins in April," added Matthews.
Vena was the starting QB for the Conquest last season and led all af2 passers with 4,452 passing yards. He was signed by the Arena Football League 's Columbus Destroyers in the off-season and is at their training camp, which began Sunday.
D. Bryant, 6-foot-3, 200-pounds, will enter his rookie af2 season, and was a dual sport athlete at Duke University playing football and basketball before transferring to Iowa Wesleyan following his junior year in 2001. Bryant became the starting quarterback at Duke mid-way through his sophomore season and continued in that role as a junior. During his junior season he passed for 2,454 yards and 11 touchdowns. He transferred to Iowa Wesleyan for academic reasons and was unable to compete athletically as a senior due to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) rule that forces transferring students to sit out a full year before competing again. Bryant was a member of Duke University's basketball team that competed for the National Championship against the University of Connecticut in 1999.
Jake Knott (Wabash College, Ind.), 6-foot-2, 190-pounds, is one of only 16 quarterbacks in NCAA history to pass for over 10,000 yards and 100 touchdowns in a career. He threw for a school record 2,954 yards and a conference record 35 touchdowns in 2002. Knott finished his career with 11,213 passing yards and 116 TD passes, shattering both Wabash and North Coast Athletic Conference records in both categories. He also showed his mobility, rushing for 261 yards during the 2002 season and 841 yards in his career, giving him 12,054 yards of total offense in four years at Wabash. He finished his career against Mount Union in the 2002 NCAA Division III quarterfinals having started in every game from his freshman to senior season, a total of 43 games.
The Conquest play home games at the Pepsi Arena beginning in April. For tickets call (518) 487-2222 or visit www.albanyconquest.com.
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