SLIPPERY ROCK - He is mild-mannered on the surface and hardly looks like a physical threat in street clothes.

Put a green and white uniform on him and Josh Kniess becomes Slippery Rock University's version of Superman.

"He's our silent leader, a kid who leads by example," SRU coach George Mihalik said. "Look at him without a uniform and try convincing someone he's a college football All-American candidate.

"That person would say you must be kidding. But put a helmet and shoulder pads on Josh Kniess and it's no joke. He's the real deal."

Kniess enters his senior season needing 1,486 all-purpose yards to surpass D.J. Flick as The Rock's all-time leader in that category. Kniess had 1,780 all-purpose yards last season.

Kniess rushed for 1,183 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2004 with a freshman quarterback still learning the system. He returned three punts for touchdowns last year and has brought back five punts for scores the past two seasons.

Yet no opponent ever tries punting the ball out of bounds when Kniess is on the field.

"I don't think it's happened once," Kniess said. "I'm not sure why. I guess they think I'm a fluke."

Mihalik doesn't think so.

"When our punt return team is on the field, I become a spectator," the coach said. "Josh is an extraordinary punt returner.

"He's elusive. He's fast. He's physical. He has great vision. And he's courageous. All good punt returners have to be courageous because there's 11 guys running at them with the sole purpose of separating the return man from the football."

Kniess credits Rock defensive coordinator Jay Foster with getting him to become an active punt returner.

"I let the ball bounce a lot in high school and never got yelled at," He said. "My freshman year here, I let the ball bounce and Coach Foster told me if I did that, he'd put somebody else back there."

While Kniess is a threat on punt returns, he's a constant threat in The Rock backfield.

"Our quarterback has another year's experience and our passing game should be better," offensive coordinator Vic Campagna said. "But we still want to run the football, and Josh is still our go-to guy.

"Giving him 25 carries or more per game is a definite goal. It'd be the ideal game for us."

Campagna said Kniess has gotten faster since last season and is a creative runner.

"When a line opens up a hole, any running back can run through it," he said. "Even when there's not a hole, Josh can create one. He's made something out of nothing lots of times.

"To me, that's an All-American back, the guy who makes something happen when the play appears dead."

Mihalik agreed.

"Josh definitely has All-America potential," the head coach said. "He can be a game-breaker in two of three phases of the game: Offense and special teams.

"My favorite trait of his is his balance. He never goes down on the first hit."

Kniess likes the idea of being the focal point of the offense.Attaining All-American status? Different story."I don't think my becoming an All-American is all that important," he said. "Winning a championship is what's important."If both things happen … yeah, I'd take that deal."Kniess' workload should decrease somewhat this year with the emergence of Corey Manfull as a capable runner and Nate Crookshank as a veteran quarterback."If Josh breaks off a long run, Corey goes in to give him a breather," Campagna said. "We didn't have that luxury during the first part of last season. Josh will be fresher late in the season this year.""Defenses won't be able to gang up on Josh Kniess like they did last year," Mihalik said. "Our offense can hurt them in other ways. That's going to make Josh that much more dangerous."The Rock offensive line may make him more dangerous as well."Our line is more cohesive and on the same page now," Kniess said. "We seemed to have a lot of confusion in the huddle last year. I'm not seeing that in camp."Give me the ball and I'll do the best I can with it. If our lines does its job, I can do mine."And if Kniess does his job …"This team is going to surprise some people," he said. "They're gonna see Slippery Rock football has returned to the championship level it's supposed to be at."

Josh's junket

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Here are the 2005 numbers senior running back Josh Kniess needs to end his career among Slippery Rock University's all-time best:

- 11 touchdowns - to pass Rick Magulick for third on SRU's career list with - 41 (1st-Stan Kennedy, 53)

- 1,077 rushing yards - to pass Dorrian Glenn for third on SRU's career list with 3,334 (1st-Stan Kennedy, 3,933)

- 147 rushing attempts - to pass Rick Porter for third on SRU's career list with 664 (1st-Rick Magulick, 756)

- 1,486 all-purpose yards - to pass D.J. Flick for first on SRU's career all-purpose yards list with 4,795