“It’s been a long journey since day one.”

That’s what the teary-eyed Jake Knott said at his farewell news conference Wednesday. 

Jake underwent season-ending surgery Monday in Chicago on his injured left shoulder and will begin rehab after a month of immobility.

The week before this Monday was “a crazy one” in Knott’s words.

First, they decided that he and his family would ask around and see a specialist in Chicago on Oct. 25, then have surgery the next day, which was one day before the ISU football team’s Homecoming game against Baylor. Once they met with the doctor, they moved the surgery to Monday, which left one obvious question in Jake’s mind.

“I said, ‘Hey doctor, you think I could play?” Jake said. “‘You think I could play on Saturday?'”

Jake’s mother, Laura Knott said it was like Christmas morning when the doctors said he could play.

“It was like he was a little boy at Christmas opening up presents,” Laura said, smiling. “He was so happy. I knew it was going to be hard for him, but as a mom, to see him happy for just a short period of time, it was just a relief.”

There was no doubt in Jake’s mind that he was going to play. Not even the fact that he couldn’t use pain medication to dull the pain he would feel throughout the entire game caused him doubt

“That’s Jake; he doesn’t want to let anybody down,” Laura said.

Jake talked to coach Paul Rhoads before the game, letting him know that he wouldn’t let the injury affect his playing and that he could mentally block it out. Throughout his career, Jake had played with injuries, but he hadn’t dealt with anything like this, let alone facing it without any sort of medication.

“I told coach Rhoads before the game that I’m not going to let this affect me,” Jake said. “You’re not going to have to pull me out of the game because it hurts so bad, because it’s not going to hurt. I’m not going to let it affect me mentally or out on the field, but I told him if he thought it was affecting me or hurting the team, in any way at all, to pull me out and that I wasn’t too proud to get pulled out.”

So Jake went and played the game, earning himself Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors for his 11-tackle performance during the 35-21 Homecoming victory against Baylor.

After the game, Jake walked off the field of Jack Trice Stadium for the last time. He hugged his family, coaches and his teammates before going into the locker room one last time.

Rhoads spoke in front of the team as he usually does for postgame. This time he commended Jake for what he had done.

Rhoads thanked him and told his football team, “Jake Knott didn’t come back to play for himself. He came back for you guys.”

Jake will now change his role for the rest of the season. Instead of the team captain and leading tackler, Jake will step to the sidelines and contribute to the team with his knowledge and voice.

Jake said he had been receiving support from everyone in all forms of communication such as texts, emails, phone calls and even letters, thanking him for what he did in the game and for what he’s done for Iowa State.

“It’s amazing — I didn’t even realize the kind of support I had behind me,” Knott said. “The emails, the letters, the texts, the calls: I read every single one of them. It’s truly amazing the fan base that we have and when you do things right how many people support you and have your back.

“It’s a dream come true for me to be here.”