JEFFERSON TWP — Brennan McTighe isn't suffering from any type of multiple personality disorder.

Knoch's senior tight end-middle linebacker does show different sides of himself — but he thrives from it.

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Linebacker ... that's him,” Knoch assistant football coach Matt Savannah said.

“He's our version of Clark Kent and Superman,” Knights head coach Mike King said.

So it goes with McTighe. Mild-mannered and studious off the field, an aggressive game-changer on it.

“Brennan is a relatively quiet kid ... I don't think I've heard him swear even once,” King said. “I require our kids to wear a tie to games, but he shows up with a jacket and tie on, he looks like a bookworm at Princeton or Yale or something.

“But once he puts on the shoulder pads and helmet, there's a nasty side to him that you need to succeed at this game.”

The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder carries a 4.2 grade point average and a top-10 academic ranking in the classroom. He placed fourth in the discus at the PIAA meet last spring, also reaching the finals in the shot put.

Through four games this football season, he has two of the Knights' five interceptions, is one of the team's leading tacklers with more than 30 stops, and is the Knights' most productive pass-catcher to date with 10 receptions for 182 yards.

“I prefer playing defense, I guess, but I just love playing football,” McTighe said. “It's always going to be a part of my life.”

McTighe is the third of three brothers — Colin and Jake preceding him — to come through the Knoch football program. Jake McTighe recently concluded a collegiate grid career at Lafayette.

Brennan is unsure he will follow that same route.

“I'll wait and see what comes,” he said. “I'm getting some college looks as a (track and field) thrower, too. Bucknell, Lafayette and Holy Cross are interested, along with some others.”

King can see McTighe competing in football and track at a Patriot League school.

“We tell our kids all the time — do well in school and it opens up that many more doors for you,” King said. “Brennan is a prime example of that.

“He's got the skill-set to do both sports in college. The academic side would be no problem for him. A program like Bucknell should feel lucky to get him.”

McTighe uses his academic smarts on the football field as well.

“He sets the defense, adjusts the defensive line, calls out the play,” Savannah said. “He watched his brothers play here and he couldn't wait for his turn.

“That same football DNA is in his blood.”

Savannah has been on Knoch's coaching staff for nine years and says McTighe is among the top five linebackers he's seen come through the program.

“He combines his intelligence with physicality,” Savannah said.

McTighe had no chance to succeed at football last season. He was lost for the season to a sports hernia after the Knights' first scrimmage.

“I never knew what a sports hernia was until it happened to him,” King admitted. “We couldn't figure out what was going on until he was finally diagnosed at UPMC.”

McTighe was ticketed to be a two-way starter as a junior before the injury occurred.

“It was rough, having to sit out,” he said. “I really missed playing football. It affected me. It made me hungrier. It made me appreciate the game more.

“All I want to do now is help my team win any way possible. I'd love to make all-conference — that's the goal of any starter — but no matter what, I'm going to play every game like it's my last game.”