Reagan Knight '21 Recruiting Profile

My name is Reagan Knight, and I'm a 17 year-old senior attending Maple Mountain High School in Spanish Fork, Utah, USA. I've been playing the beautiful game since I was around 12-13, when I first started learning how to play by watching videos on YouTube and practicing religiously at the park by my house. I played club soccer during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, before I played for the sophomore team at my high school during Spring 2019. I prefer playing as a central attacking midfielder, but I feel I do well playing anywhere from center forward to defensive midfielder through the middle, and full back to inside forward on the wings. 

I would say one of my greatest strengths is my ability to find open positions and make runs into the space. I've been able to improve my ability for finding space by watching Bayern Munich, specifically Thomas Muller. Muller is a very intelligent player who always looks to be open and help progress the build-up of play for his team. When playing as a 10 or a false 9, I sit back between the midfield and defense lines in many situations. This does two things. The first is drawing players either forward from defense or backwards from midfield and creating space for my teammates. It also has the potential to create confusion between the two lines in the event of not knowing who should drop back or come forward to mark me. 

Another thing I feel is a good attribute of mine is my passing vision. I am always looking for where the most space is, as well as forward runs from teammates. There are very few things in this world as satisfying to me as playing a perfect through ball, or sending a flawless diagonal ball out to a player waiting on the wing. I feel possession of the ball if very important, and I press very hard and aggressive when the team needs to win the ball back. I do this by either robbing the ball off of a player after a heavy touch or cutting passing lanes to force either a long ball or a panicked pass.

One thing I have struggled with during my soccer experience is stamina. I stopped going running for a while after I had an ACL injury earlier this year, but I have resumed my daily runs and been doing sprinting drills when I train. I know that if I continue to do this consistently I will improve every aspect of my play due to a lack of fatigue. 

I feel I am a good candidate for any team for several reasons. One of these reasons would be the sheer fact that I love the game with all my heart. I will work with every ounce of my being to improve myself to help my team. Another reason I am a quality candidate is my ability to get along with others, and form connections with my teammates. I absolutely love people and forming strong bonds with the people around me, and I'm always making sure everyone feels an like important part of the team, for they are. A team is a family and should behave as such. A team that can motivate each other, playing for each other and for the sake of the game, is very hard to stop.

In college, I want to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology and become a therapist. I really enjoy talking to people and helping them with problems, and with the fairly high salary, it's a no-brainer for me.