SLIPPERY ROCK — Simply the best.

Coach George Mihalik's description is basic, yet on the mark when it comes to Slippery Rock University senior running back Josh Kniess.

"There are no other words to describe him," Mihalik said. "He's so quiet, so unassuming, yet look at the career he's put together here.

"I love that kid. I don't know what we're gonna do without him."

The 5-foot-10, 194-pound Kniess pieced together 310 all-purpose yards in Saturday's 58-28 win over Shippensburg at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium, breaking D.J. Flick's SRU career all-purpose yardage record.

Kniess had 22 carries for 172 yards and two touchdowns, 110 yards and a touchdown in punt returns, caught a screen pass for 21 yards and returned a kickoff for seven more.

He did all of that while thinking about fellow Rock running back Corey Manfull, who was carted off the field in an ambulance after sustaining a head injury in the first quarter.

"I couldn't stop thinking about him," Kniess said. "I had to watch my best friend get taken away in an ambulance. That's the worst thing I've ever had to go through."

Kniess needs three yards rushing this Saturday at Clarion for his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. He needs 117 all-purpose yards to reach 5,000 and 20 carries to become The Rock's career record holder in that category.

"And we were worried about his durability when he first came here," Mihalik said. "Those concerns certainly proved to be unnecessary."

When Kniess first came to The Rock — from right across the street as a Slippery Rock High School graduate — he weighed all of 160 pounds.

He also hadn't played football in a year, having attended Butler County Community College for a year after graduating from high school.

"I had to get my grades up and that gave me a chance to experience what college would be like without football," Kniess said. "And I knew what Slippery Rock had waiting for me and what college would be like with football.

"That year off was good for me. I needed to get away, to re-focus a little bit."

Before enrolling at SRU, Kniess spent Saturday afternoons at The Rock watching football. Many of the names he passed in The Rock record books — Rick Magulick Stan Kennedy, Dorrian Glenn and Flick — he grew up watching.

"Randy (quarterback McKavish) was my favorite and he's not even on that list," Kniess said of SRU's all-purpose yardage leader.

Despite rushing for 2,172 yards and 30 touchdowns his senior year at Slippery Rock High, Division III Thiel College was the only school that recruited Kniess — though Mihalik attended all of his games.

"We knew he wanted to come to The Rock and we had to find a way to get him here," Mihalik said.

Kniess knew he had to improve his academic standing.

"Thiel needed a running back and that's all they were looking at," he said. "I found out that colleges look at a lot more than just football when recruiting an athlete."

SRU's coaching staff never lost sight of Kniess, even when he left football for a year.

"We stayed with him," offensive coordinator Vic Campagna said. "That's how we got him. We knew he was interested in us and wanted him to know we were interested in him.

"We always knew Josh had the ability to help us. We never knew he'd give us the consistent production that he has."

Kniess rushed for 447 yards his freshman year at SRU despite being plagued by a bad ankle. That ankle continued to bother him into his sophomore year, when he rushed for 627 yards.

Saturday's performance marked his 15th collegiate 100-yard rushing game and sixth in a row. He has ranked among the top three in NCAA Division II in punt returns the past two years and scored his sixth punt-return touchdown Saturday.

"He's the best player I've ever played with, I know that," SRU quarterback Nate Crookshank said.

Yet when he first arrived at The Rock, Kniess wasn't sure he could withstand the physical punishment.

"I've always enjoyed lifting weights, so that wasn't going to be a problem," Kniess said. "I came in here at 160 pounds and I'm 190 now.

"I took those first couple of hits in practice and wondered, man, am I going to be able to do this? It wasn't high school anymore.

"But SRU's summer conditioning program got me back into football shape really quick," Kniess added.

And he became The Rock's go-to running back by his junior year.

"He's a good, steady back," Shippensburg coach Rocky Rees said. "There's nothing flashy about him, he just beats you.

"He's become the staple of their offense. He's just plain reliable."

Now he's become the most productive player in SRU football history.

"A kid comes over from across the street and does what he did … They should make a movie out of this," Mihalik said. "The script is just too good."