2017 Game Program Senior Feature: David Knevel

Moving from Brantford, Ontario, Canada, to Lincoln, Neb., has been a transition from one culture of nice people to the next for senior offensive lineman David Knevel.

Knevel, the Huskers’ only international player on the football team, said Lincoln’s calm and kind atmosphere reminds him of his hometown up north. In fact, the ride from Omaha’s airport to Lincoln is strikingly similar to the one that takes him home from the Toronto airport.

Back in Brantford, located about 70 miles west of New York, the pigskins and turf fields are replaced by wooden sticks and ice rinks.

The 6-9, 315-pound Knevel grew up playing hockey with his twin brother, Michael, until the eighth grade when a family friend tried to recruit the two for a club football team. Knevel and his brother gave it a shot, and by the end of the ninth grade, Knevel had completely transitioned to football.

“I had no idea [I’d go to the U.S. to play football],” Knevel said. “Then I kind of grew out of hockey, and I just stuck with football and just went with it. I loved it and opportunities came, and I just took the best ones.”

Knevel didn’t receive his scholarship offer until his senior year, after he helped Team Canada to a 23-17 win over Team USA at the International Federation of American Football Under-19 tournament in Austin, Texas. Despite offers from Alabama, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Purdue, Baylor, Missouri, Vanderbilt and others, Knevel chose Nebraska because of the opportunity for a free education and the larger stage presented by the Big Ten Conference.

Living in Nebraska has only presented slight, subtle cultural differences for the offensive lineman, who finds life right in the middle of the United States to be exactly what he was looking for.

“I like the people a lot,” Knevel said. “It’s kind of slow, not too fast, which is like my hometown. It’s comfortable, it’s easy going. Honestly, I like a lot about Lincoln. It’s just peaceful, chill, easygoing, nice people.”

Knevel’s best memory at Nebraska happened at the 2013 spring game, when he shared the field with 7-year-old Jack Hoffman, who was battling cancer as he ran a 69-yard touchdown.
“Just how much it meant to him and being out there with him and the impact of it, it was cool to be a part of that,” Knevel said. “This was my first spring here, and I never thought I’d be on the field. I figured it would be with the ones or something, and all of a sudden I’m in the huddle and I see Taylor Martinez walk out to him, and I saw little Jack, and he’s super excited and nervous and all that, and it was a lot of fun. You remember moments in the games and all that, but that was super unique.”

After he graduates next month, the 2016 Academic All-Big Ten player plans to pursue football professionally, and hopes to eventually attend graduate school and law school to expand upon his current studies of history and political science.

But before he leaves, the four-time Brook Berringer and Tom Osborne Citizenship Team member looks to fulfill his role as a mentor for his teammates - a role he has always played.

“I just try to help out the younger guys and just try to be another voice they can work with when they’re trying to figure things out,” Knevel said. “But as I’ve been here, the more young guys that show up, I just try to mentor them.”