Dracut has been an afterthought when it comes to the MVC contenders conversation for a while now, but there’s reason to believe former UNH QB and new head coach Trevor Knight can have Middies playing meaningful games in November sooner rather than later.

Knight played for the legend Sean McDonnell in Durham. McDonnell ran a program that regularly churned out physical football players that also have plenty of mental toughness and the ability to think quickly in clutch situations. That’s carried on with current head coach Rick Santos.

After playing in just six games in 2015, Knight went on to throw for 6,345 yards over the next three seasons for the Wildcats with 48 touchdowns. In 2015, ’16 and ’17, UNH reached the NCAA FCS first round, second round and quarterfinals. Knight also played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in 2019.

After some down years for a once proud MVC program, Knight is hoping to instill much of what he learned from McDonnell and other coaches on the quest to bring Dracut back to respectability. Knight played his high school ball in New Hampshire, but was always familiar with programs in the area, particularly the last few years while training high school QB’s.

All of that experience is going to play a part in his coaching style and philosophy.

“Yeah, a lot of Coach Mac, Coach Ryan Carty (former UNH OC now head coach at Delaware) and then some stuff I learned up north of the border in Canada,” Knight said during a phone interview on Tuesday. “I played under Paul LaPolice Mike O’Shea was my head coach. I learned a lot from them too, just on team building wise. Schematically, it’s still the same game. I know there’s 12 people, but it’s still a very similar game so, some good concepts in the pass game and then a lot of good run stuff.

“How we dress up runs and shifts and motions, things of that nature. I really learned a lot of that from my time up there.”

Another key aspect of coaching in 2024 is dealing with kids who want to get noticed as soon as possible. If Knight can develop guys to the point where they’re getting offers that could change their lives, that’s a huge part of the job as well.

That’s a big reason why he added two other former UNH teammates to his staff and guys with plenty of big stops on their respective resumés. Kieran Presley and Matt Mascia played for the Wildcats while Mike Dereus has experience at Georgetown and in both the NFL and USFL. Reggie Garrett (played at Norfolk State and coached at Temple, Maine and URI) and Dracut grads Anthony Morin and Tarek Rothe all bring a wealth of knowledge and success.

“I think bringing in winners and really good people and people who have accomplished things on the football field and in life, putting them around these kids so they see the success in front of them every day is important,” said Knight. “We want this to be all they know. I wanted to surround these guys with winners and people who will push them to be better on and off the field. I think we have that with this coaching staff and I think the kids are showing they respect them. That definitely helps early on when they believe you can help them.”

Admittedly, the Dracut job wasn’t initially the most appealing opportunity for Knight, but when a former U-Maine grad sent him a message about the opening, he figured he’d at least hear the fellow CAA alum out, even if it was a rival Black Bear.

The rest is history.

“The last few years I’ve trained quarterbacks around the MVC. I’ve trained a bunch of the QB’s – most of the quarterbacks in the MVC  – and when I saw Dracut on their schedule the last few years I was like ‘oh, I’m not really going to pay attention to their game,’ because they haven’t been as competitive,” Knight explained. “So, I’ve been aware of Dracut’s struggles, but, I also knew about how good they used to be too. I’ve heard they were the powerhouse around this area. So, I kind of saw this like a turning of the tide.

“Then, this winter (new AD) Tom DiGeronimo actually sent me a message and reached out to see if I’d be interested in applying or meeting with him. My first thought was like ‘I don’t really think so, I know they’ve struggled, I don’t really know the situation over there.’ I wasn’t interested, but, I did see he was a former U-Maine football alum, So, I thought ‘I’ll give this guy a shot even though he’s the enemy.’ I came in, met with him, met with Paul Ganley (lacrosse coach), saw all the facilities and they told me about the current situation and all the support that would be given to me.

“It highly piqued my interest. The support and the facilities at the school, it really is an awesome little spot. It could be a sleeping giant, that’s sort of how they put it towards me. I bought into what they were saying…I met with the superintendent, I met with the principal and others in the administration and it just felt like a really good spot. I see the potential of what could be here.”

It’s early, but Knight is pleased with the way the team has responded to him and some of his new assistants, as well as the message they’re trying to get across during camp.

“They’re definitely receiving it well, but it’s a completely new team,” he said. “Completely new offense, completely new defense, so it’s really like we’re all starting fresh. That’s how I’ve put it. Like, ‘guys, I don’t care…I’m not here to judge what’s happened the last few years. I’m here to make moving forward better. Move forward, onward and upward’ and the kids are buying in.

“We’re just telling them to be good teammates and we’re not putting too much on them schematically. We’re really just staying with the basics of it and the kids are really bought in. Last year, I believe at this time they had about 16 players. We’re up to about 60 right now and could be up near 70 when school starts when we can pull some freshman in. Just looking to build off that every year.”

Players win games, and while kids will have to earn and learn new roles, there’s a handful of guys that Knight can already tell he’ll be relying on for leadership both on and off the field, including seniors Evan Durker (QB/DB), Ben Dejsus (RB/LB), Samson Nagbe (RB/DB/WR), Jethro Jackson (WR/DB), Juelz Cabrera (OL/DL) and juniors Owen French (RB/DB) and Johnathan DaSilva (OL/DL). There’s also “super freshman” Matt Lacerda (OL/DL) who Knight pointed to as someone to keep an eye out for.

This may take a while, but the pieces are in place for a Dracut resurgence. For now, Knight is determined to put a team people can be proud of on the field.

“They can expect we’re going to play the game the right way, the way it’s supposed to be played,” he added. “We’ll work hard on offense, defense and special teams. We’re going to play tough and we’re going to play fast. We’re going back to the old spread offense that Coach Murph made famous at Dracut. We’re going to be up-tempo. We’re going to fly around on defense and hit you.

“We want to rebrand Dracut football and what we are.”