Six plays into his first start after undergoing an appendectomy Oct. 16, Knapp tore a patella tendon in his knee on the Cyclones' first offensive series against Texas A&M Saturday and is likely out for the season.
"My heart goes out to him and his family," ISU coach Gene Chizik said. "You sit there and watch mom, dad, his sister and girlfriend crying after the game, how can your heart not (go out to them)."
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After winning the starting center job in fall camp and starting the first three games, Knapp had an appendectomy three days before the UNLV game. He returned to practice a week later and spent the last four weeks working himself back into game shape before having to undergo his second surgery of the season.
"You saw it in practice at the beginning of the year that he wanted to play so bad," linebacker Cameron Bell said. "I'm good friends with Mike. I'm good friends with everyone on the team, but Mike came on as a walk-on, really had to prove himself and has had to deal with surgeries all year long."
Right tackle Ben Lamaak also is dealing with an undisclosed injury. Lamaak, who went down in the second quarter against the Aggies, is day-to-day and is trying to make it back for this week's tilt with No. 9 Oklahoma State (7-1, 3-1) Saturday (2:30 p.m., ABC).
"But he is still having a tough time getting around," said quarterback Austen Arnaud, who lives with Lamaak. "I saw him walking around the house dragging his leg, and I told him to stop dragging his leg. He'll be fine and hopefully, he'll be ready to play Saturday."
With Knapp out, the Cyclones (2-6, 0-4) will turn to Alex Alvarez, who already has started four games. If Lamaak is unable to make his 21st consecutive start, freshman Scott Haughton or sophomore Matt Hulbert will fill in for him.
"You just kind of roll with it," Hulbert said. "You kind of keep it going as best you can, whatever happens happens."
The Amazing Austen: Two weeks after suffering a right shoulder injury at Baylor, Arnaud played his best game as a Cyclone, throwing for a career-high 371 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 67 yards and scored on a 9-yard touchdown run.
Chizik believes the Arnaud on display Saturday will be the one Cyclones fans will see plenty of over the next two-plus seasons.
"He has really come on in this past game, which was what we envisioned Austen to do for our football team for an entire game, not a quarter here, a quarter there, a half here, a half there," Chizik said.
Arnaud said his shoulder injury, which kept him out of practice most of the week leading up to the Nebraska game, isn't much of an issue now.
"I was sore in the Nebraska game," he said. "It was tight, but the only thing it really limits is how far I can throw the ball, and in our offense, we throw a lot of shorter passes."
Making a good impression: True freshman Stephen Ruempolhamer earned his first start Saturday as defensive tackle Michael Tate missed the game with a right shoulder injury.
Chizik was impressed with Ruempolhamer, who recovered a fumble in the Cyclones' 14-point loss.
"It was time for him to step up to the plate and start his first Big 12 game, and he has been playing enough all year for us to feel comfortable," Chizik said. "We thought there was some great opportunity for him to step in there Saturday night."
Tate said his shoulder just wouldn't allow him to play against Texas A&M and that he's feeling better and expects to play against the Cowboys.
Channel update: With ABC airing the Iowa-Illinois game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, the ISU-Oklahoma State game will air on the Mediacom connections channel in the Des Moines area.
Reeves commits: Cornerback Jeremy Reeves verbally committed to ISU, according to Rivals.com. The 5-foot-8, 156-pounder from Allen (Texas) High School made his official visit to Ames this weekend and became the 13th known member of the 2009 recruiting class.
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929, or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
