William Hardin remembers the first day he met Knapp.
Almost nine years later, then-Page High School baseball coach can still recall what Knapp looked like.
He was barely 5-foot-11. He had braces. He was pudgy and little. He looked like a boy next to men.
But he had personality. Knapp always smiled. He communicated well. He worked hard. He was more mature than the other players.
“He came out and that cat worked like there’s no tomorrow,” Hardin said. “He’s one of those guys you just don’t forget.”
Hardin figured out quickly that Knapp was also a late bloomer. During the summer of his sophomore year, Knapp sat out with debilitating pain from growing too quickly. He was 6-foot-2 by his senior season and he would grow four more inches.
While personality and work ethic came naturally, his velocity slowly began to match what was always there. He could throw a strike, but his fastball didn’t have enough speed. He started to reach 90 miles per hour.
Page High School isn’t known for baseball or producing superstars one after the other. But Hardin campaigned for Knapp, attempting to get him any sort of recruiting attention.
No luck.
By graduation day, Knapp hadn't receive any scholarship opportunities. Hardin remembers Knapp — much taller, less boyish — walking across the stage in the Greensboro Complex. Knapp had a good frame. He had everything going for him.
What was Hardin missing?
Knapp decided to go with the best offer he received. He went to UNC-Wilmington as a preferred walk-on.
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“He’s just got to get a chance and he’s gonna prove people wrong,” Hardin said.
He was cut from UNCW a year later. Walters State in Morristown, Tennessee reached out to him. Knapp took a chance.
***
David Shelton had to sell Knapp the idea of Walters State Community College.
The pitcher knew that going to a JUCO was a step down from Division I, but the Walters State head coach assured him they could access his untapped potential.
“There was just some rawness to him,” Shelton said. “He was just a young man that needed an opportunity.”
The community college had turned people into Division I players and MLB prospects as one of the top JUCOs in the country.
So, in 2020, he headed to Tennessee. Knapp’s command wasn’t all the way there and his mechanics were funky, but he could spin a breaking ball. Shelton and pitching coach Sean Robinson saw what Hardin saw.
“You could tell that it was just a matter of time before everything kind of clicked,” Robinson said.
But Knapp struggled with the timeline. He wasn’t getting recruited the way he wanted. The disregard made him question his talent and his choices. He worked tirelessly without the validation he was seeking. Maybe there was no breakthrough on the horizon. Maybe he had reached his peak.
Knapp asked himself a question: “Am I doing the right thing?”
He applied to the University of Georgia. A few of his Walters State friends were going there the next year and Knapp decided it wouldn’t be so bad to follow them.
No baseball. Just leave it all in the rearview mirror and go. He didn’t tell his parents how close he was to hanging it up.
Robinson noticed the shift and he brought it to Shelton’s attention. Knapp eventually approached the head coach after practice.
It was a month and a half into the season. Shelton and Knapp stood in between third base and home plate.
They talked for over an hour.
Shelton told Knapp he wasn’t going to let him quit. Shelton wasn’t going to let him get frustrated. Knapp didn’t have the option.
“He took the time to challenge me in a positive way,” Knapp said. “I’m incredibly grateful. I tell him that all the time when I talk to him that he took the time to have that conversation."
***
Things started to click after that.
In his second season at Walters State, Knapp made up his mind that he wanted to be a powerful pitcher. He figured out how to become that and attacked it in full force alongside fellow Walters State pitcher Kohl Drake, who was drafted by the Texas Rangers.
“They both looked like they were way too good for our level,” Shelton said. “They really pitched like men amongst boys.”
UNC’s pitching coach, Bryant Gaines, talked to Knapp throughout his first season at Walters State. If Knapp adjusted and kept improving, Gaines said he could have a spot with UNC once Gaines saw the change in person.
But North Carolina’s season started and so did Knapp’s. The scheduling for Gaines to watch Knapp wasn’t working out.
“I was getting really nervous and there were some other schools kind of putting pressure on me to make a decision,” Knapp said. “But something told me to wait.”
It was the middle of March 2022. Tennessee had some rain showers. Knapp’s game against Chattanooga State moved from the weekend to Monday.
He immediately texted Gaines. The pitching coach traveled almost five hours to see Knapp.
“I knew he was there,” Knapp said. “Junior college games you don’t get any fans so [I saw] him walk in [with] his Carolina gear.”
Knapp was confident. He knew he had put in the work to be successful. He struck out 10 batters in six innings of work en route to an 8-1 Walters State victory.
Gaines called Knapp that same night on his way back to Chapel Hill. Gaines told the pitcher he needed to get on the phone with UNC head coach Scott Forbes.
Forbes offered him a spot at 10:30 p.m.
“I told him that I know this is where I want to be,” Knapp said. “I just want to sleep on it just to make sure.”
He texted Gaines the next morning and they immediately got on a phone call. Knapp told Forbes and Gaines he committed to UNC.
The pitcher eventually called Hardin to tell his former coach he committed to North Carolina. Hardin said it was one of the happiest days of his life.
“Look, wherever you want to go, man, as long as it makes you happy that’s all that matters,” Hardin told him. “You’ve earned it, and you get to enjoy it. All that hard work you’ve done over the years has finally paid off.”
***
Knapp attacked North Carolina with the same effort he gave to Walters State.
He made his debut in February 2023 and pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Knapp was mad they didn’t let him finish the inning.
During the season, he started 16 games tying the ACC lead in starts. He ranked fourth in the conference in batters struck out looking with 29.
Before the 2024 season, Knapp kept working. Robinson saw Knapp again when Walters State and UNC scrimmaged in the fall of 2023 and he looked like a different pitcher.
He was in better shape. His body moved more seamlessly. His mechanics were better. He was more muscular. Knapp earned the starting pitching job and he was named captain.
Robinson was shocked at the difference. When he first met Knapp, he saw a future at a higher level, but he never thought about him having the starting role at UNC.
“Once he got to North Carolina, they took him to a whole new level,” Robinson said. “As good as he was for us, he [was] nowhere near where he is now.”
Knapp was pitching in a preseason scrimmage with everything ahead of him.
Then, he threw one pitch and knew something was wrong. He still finished the inning. Then he left the field without saying anything.
He went to the training room and met with athletic trainer Terri Jo Rucinski.
Knapp had a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his throwing arm. An injury that required Tommy John surgery. He would never see the mound in 2024.
It was all gone in an instant.
Ahead of the season, Knapp met with the media during UNC baseball’s media day. He suspected his injury would prevent him from pitching, but that information hadn’t been confirmed or disclosed to the public.
His mom cannot listen to the interview and she doesn’t know how Knapp got through it. With his hands in his lap and several microphones surrounding him, he fielded questions about securing the starting role and how excited he was for the season.
“What does a Friday starter, captain Jake Knapp tell the Jake Knapp that was cut by UNCW?”
“It would just be like, ‘Glad, I didn’t give up,’” Knapp said. “There were some times where I questioned after Wilmington [and] at Walters like am I doing the right thing? So, just that I continued to stick with it, I would be proud about it.”
His voice got quieter. He repeated it again, softer this time.
“I would be proud about it.”
***
Knapp learned more about himself in that year. The type of lessons that go beyond baseball.
“It definitely wasn’t the first time he had been knocked down,” Jennifer Knapp said. “But that was brutal. It felt like you were finally getting to where you needed to be, and that happened, and that’s the first time I’ve seen him a little down.”
Knapp isn't an emotional guy. Those closest around could tell he was upset, but he would never tell you that.
“He always plays off being strong,” Jennifer Knapp said. “But there’s only so much a person can take.”
Knapp couldn’t help but be selfish on opening day. He watched first-year pitcher Folger Boaz get the start. Knapp wanted to be the one out there.
“What am I doing?” Knapp said. “Feeling bad for myself. I should be doing stuff to help him out.”
So, Knapp changed his role. He traveled with the team. He did scouting reports for his teammates. In between innings, he would tell whoever was pitching what he saw. He helped in whatever way he could.
Knapp never went back to the mindset he had on opening day.
By the time fall rolled around again, Robinson came back for the annual scrimmage between the two teams. Knapp was still rehabbing.
“I asked him if he was ready,” Robinson said. “He didn’t seem like he was nervous at all.”
***
Hunter Stokely’s dad, Robert, watched from the field hockey stands looking over Boshamer Stadium. He texted Jennifer updates from over 50 miles away.
With his whole team watching, Knapp stood on the mound for the first time in over a year.
“I’m not that emotional,” Forbes said. “But just watching Jake it’s hard not to [be].”
Knapp’s limited time on the mound couldn’t have gone better. He was in the strike zone.
"I really wasn't concerned with any of the results," Knapp said. "I went back out there and I felt comfortable on the mound."
But even if he wasn't concerned with how he did, he called his parents as soon as he could.
Jennifer said he was on cloud nine. The reaction was priceless for the mother who hadn't heard that in some time. His whole team felt that joy too.
“That’s one of those things, it’s just why you play baseball," sophomore third baseman Gavin Gallaher said.
Knapp worked five years for those 25 pitches and there was history behind each one. From getting cut at UNCW. A potential life away from baseball at Georgia prevented by a one hour conversation at a baseball field. And a starting job derailed by a season-ending injury.
So many chapters all behind one that's just beginning.
@_emmahmoon
@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com
Emma MoonEmma Moon is the 2024-25 assistant sports editor. She previously served as the Summer Sports Editor and as a senior writer. Emma is a senior majoring in Media and Journalism, and English. She has red hair and drives a Prius.
