Knox Groenenboom Plays for the Next Snap
Knox Groenenboom knows how fast things can turn for a quarterback. “You can go from hero to zero extremely quickly, but also the other way around,” the Park City High School sophomore said, “and you have to be able to handle that and move on to the next play or game.” For the Class of 2029 signal-caller from Park City, Utah, that kind of mental toughness isn’t something he talks about in theory. He learned it the hard way.
Knox has been playing football for six years. The spark came from two places: his dad, who first got him interested in the game, and the high school players he watched growing up and wanted to be like. Now he’s one of those high school players himself, and what keeps him hooked on the quarterback position is how much it asks of him. He likes that there are so many different ways to play it and so many ways to help his team win. A quarterback’s job goes well beyond throwing the ball, and Knox has embraced every part of it.
His development has had strong guidance. Knox has trained with Brooks Ringer of Rocky Mountain Gunslingers and with Greg Tunney, a coach he credits simply for his knowledge of the game. He has also worked at the Manning Passing Academy, one of the best-known quarterback camps in the country. The person he points to first, though, is his very first quarterback coach. “He showed me how to love the position and what it could do for me, as well as what I could do with it,” Knox said. “He created the base for me, and I would be nowhere near where I am now.” It’s rare for a young player to see so clearly where his foundation came from, and Knox gives that coach full credit.
His path hasn’t been smooth. The hardest thing Knox has faced so far was being overlooked and underestimated. He lost reps because of it, and with them, game experience he can’t get back. He didn’t let it define him. He kept going with a mindset he describes as “embracing the suck.” He showed up, pushed through, and made himself a promise to prove wrong the people who didn’t believe in him. For a quarterback, a stretch like that is its own kind of training. It builds the resilience he says matters most at the position.
That same resilience is what he looks for in the players he admires. Tom Brady’s mentality is the obvious choice, and Knox says so himself. The player whose example stays with him most, though, is Justin Herbert. He admires the way Herbert has kept competing and chasing the top even when the roster around him hasn’t always matched his talent. It says something about Knox that he’s drawn less to highlight-reel moments and more to the quarterback who keeps working when things aren’t going his way.
His goals reflect that. This season, Knox wants to lead Park City all the way to the state championship and help make himself and everyone around him as good as they can be. Looking further ahead, he wants to keep building the program, keep making a name for himself, and keep competing against the best version of himself, one step at a time. He isn’t aiming to be done at some point. He wants to keep getting better, and for a sophomore who has already had to fight for his chances, that approach should serve him well.
Building the Résumé: Why Upgrading Your Membership Matters
Knox said it himself: one of his goals is to make a name for himself. Sophomore season is a great time to start building that name on purpose, and an upgraded QB Magazine membership gives him the tools to do it.
A season chasing a state title will produce big moments, like a key drive, a comeback, or a playoff win. Custom graphics turn those moments into polished, shareable content that teammates, family, and coaches can find and remember. Reposts across QB Magazine’s platforms put Knox in front of an audience that reaches well beyond Park City and his own followers, including people who follow quarterback development across the country.
That recognition adds up over time. Every feature, graphic, and repost from this season is still there when he heads into his junior year, which is when recruiting conversations usually start to pick up. A name that coaches have been seeing for a full season carries more weight than one they’re hearing for the first time.
Knox gives his first quarterback coach credit for building his foundation. An upgraded membership helps him build the next layer on top of it: a record of who he is, how he competes, and how far he has come, all in one place.