Shortly after the end of the high school baseball season, Brooks Kneifl experienced what he called a “gut punch.”
The Wayne High baseball standout was getting ready to take his talents down to Manhattan, Kan., to get ready for his freshman season at Kansas State University. The son of Scott and Jennifer Kneifl had committed to the Wildcats as a freshman and signed a national letter of intent earlier this year, paving the way for Wayne High’s first Div. I athletic recruit since three-time state champion wrestler Matt Nelson signed with Nebraska almost 20 years ago.
Then came the punch.
“About four weeks ago, a week before I was supposed to move down to Kansas, I got a call from the recruiting coordinator at Kansas State,” Kneifl told The Wayne Herald in an interview last Wednesday, just hours after he announced his switch to the University of Nebraska.
It wasn’t the phone call he was expecting to hear — some of the players from this year’s KSU team who were expected to be picked in the Major League Baseball draft did not get picked and were planning on coming back to the team next season.
“They had some guys they expected to get drafted that didn’t so they wanted to use my scholarship money,” Kneifl said. “I still could have gone there because I’d already signed my NLI (national letter of intent), but I wanted to go someplace that wanted me.”
Thankfully, Nebraska pitching coach Rob Childress wanted him, and soon the Kneifl family was talking with the new Husker pitching coach.
Kneifl looked at several other schools, including Creighton, Wichita State, Ohio State and South Dakota State, and also heard from Oklahoma. But Nebraska is where his heart was set.
“Nebraska was one of my choices originally and it was tough back then deciding between Nebraska and Kansas State,” he said. “Nebraska has always had a special place in my heart, and I’m excited to be able to play for coach (Will) Bolt and coach Childress.”
The Huskers are getting quite the left arm in their arsenal after Kneifl helped lead the Blue Devils to the Class C state tournament and a third-place finish this season. Kneifl was 6-3 with a 1.92 earned run average, striking out 83 and walking 19 in 47 1/3 innings for coach Adam Hoffman. He also excelled at the plate, batting .355 with a team-best five homers and 20 RBIs.
For his three-year career at Wayne High (he did not compete as a freshman due to the pandemic), Kneifl was 18-6 with 228 strikeouts, 45 walks and a 1.20 ERA. But even with those impressive stats, he knows he’s going to have to perform well if he wants to see time on the mound with the Huskers.
“Coach Childress said I’m going to have to earn it and every pitcher there is going to have to earn their spot,” he said. “He wants to have the lowest walks per nine (innings) in the Big Ten next year, and he has zero tolerance for walks and I totally agree. I don’t like walking guys either and I’m going to go out there and compete and work my tail off to get a spot on that mound.”
Kneifl said he doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, but loves to work the zone with a variety of pitches and hopes to use that talent to get in the rotation.
“I’m not one to light up a radar gun,” he said. “I can throw 85 to 88 (miles per hour) with my fastball, but I’m going to pound the zone, and that’s what he wants.”
Kneifl said the experience has been a challenge for both he and his family, but the outcome is one he’s excited about going into next season.
“It was a gut punch for sure, and I’m sure it’s not the last time I’ll be gut-punched in life, but we didn’t really dwell on it too much,” he said. “My family and I took the right steps and I’m glad coach Childress and coach Bolt have given me this opportunity.”
“My family is excited,” he added. “(younger brother) Jaxson is probably even more excited than I am. I’ll be close to home and he’ll be able to come to games and cheer me on.”
It’s also given Kneifl one last chance to compete with his classmates here in Wayne. The Kansas State deal fell through days before the start of the summer American Legion season, so he’s playing with the Wayne Post 43 Seniors and loving every minute of it.
“It was a last-minute decision to play Legion ball and I don’t regret it at all,” he said. “It’s one last time with these guys and they’re just awesome.”
