Fredi Knighten is in his second year as an offensive analyst for Utah State and works primarily with the wide receivers.
In 2021, Utah State had its best season ever as it tied the school record with 11 wins (11-3), won its first-ever Mountain West Championship with a 46-13 road win at No. 19 San Diego State, posted a 24-13 win against Oregon State in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl and finished the year ranked 24th in the nation.
Utah State’s offense set six school records in 2021, including 41 touchdown passes, 4,248 passing yards and three receivers with 10-plus touchdown receptions. USU also tied a pair of school records, including 13 100-yard receiving games.
Additionally, Utah State’s offense produced over 600 yards of total offense twice, and over 400 passing yards three times, all of which rank among the top-16 performances in school history.
Utah State finished the 2021 season ranked 15th in the nation in passing offense (303.4 ypg), 23rd in total offense (445.6 ypg), and 33rd in scoring offense (32.6 ppg). USU was also the only team that had three players with 10 touchdown receptions.
Individually, senior wide receiver Deven Thompkins set three school records in 2021, including 102 receptions for 1,704 yards. Thompkins also tied two school record with six-consecutive 100-yard receiving games and nine 100-yard receiving games.
Thompkins, who was named an Associated Press Third-Team All-American and a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, was second in the nation in receiving yards.
Additionally, Derek Wright earned honorable mention all-MW honors in 2021, while Thompkins was named first team. Thompkins was also named the MW Offensive Player of the Week twice.
Knighten came to Utah State after spending two years (2019-20) at Massachusetts, where he served as the running backs coach and added the role as quarterbacks coach in 2020.
Prior to his time at UMass, Knighten spent one season as a graduate assistant at Florida State working primarily with the Seminoles’ quarterbacks. In part under Knighten’s guidance, FSU’s passing offense ranked third in the ACC at 270.1 yards per game.
Knighten also served as a graduate assistant at Maryland during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In his final campaign, Maryland’s offense ranked in the top-20 nationally for fewest turnovers (14), which tied a team record.
Knighten enjoyed a decorated playing career as a dual-threat quarterback at Arkansas State (2012-15), as he helped the Red Wolves to three Sun Belt Conference Championships and four-straight bowl games as those teams combined for a 34-18 record, including a 25-6 league mark.
He finished fourth in program history with 6,986 career total yards and also posted a figure of 4,056 yards in 2014, a feat that ranked second all-time. Knighten was a two-time Sun Belt all-conference honoree.
Knighten was named MVP of the 2013 GoDaddy Bowl after recording a career-high 212 yards of total offense and leading the Red Wolves on a three-play, 55-yard game-winning drive in the final 1:25.
Knighten, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Arkansas State in 2016. Prior to college, he played scholastically at Pulaski Academy, where he was twice chosen for All-America honors by ESPN, while also collecting Parade and MaxPreps All-America accolades.