Road to 1991 Perfection: Knocc, Knocc, Who's There? Snoop Dogg and Huskies

The 1991 University of Washington football team had a certain amount of cool to it. Knew the right people. Got invited to all the parties.

The Huskies were composed of a huge offensive tackle named after a pair of assassinated presidents. A quarterback called Billy Joe. A linebacker who would become a Secret Service agent. A center who turned up on national TV and made movies. And Emtman.

Oh yeah, the UW also counted on a defensive end who went full canine — before he became a Husky, defensive end Danianke Smith grew up as childhood friends with and remains closely associated with Snoop Dogg.

Calvin Broadus, better known as the rapper and entertainer Snoop Dogg, and Smith were classmates at Long Beach Poly High School in Southern California and teammates on the Jackrabbits football team.

"That's my little brother," Smith said. "He was the class of '89. I was the class of '88. We played [Poly] football together. We played youth football together. We've got lots of friends together. He's a great guy."

Smith emerged from Long Beach Poly as this big and fast defensive lineman, part of a newfound Husky emphasis toward making the program even speedier, an upgrade that brought Don James and his program a national title in 1991.

Known as "Knocc" (pronounced Knock), Smith chose the Huskies over Arizona State at the last minute, joining an influx of Los Angeles-area athletes headed north.

"Spending time with the James family and I think the Space Needle kind of sold me, to be honest," he said.

This is another in series of vignettes about the UW 1991 national championship team, supplementing the conversation for the pandemic-delayed season that begins soon. We're in week 9, which brought a showdown with USC in Los Angeles.

The '91 Huskies-Trojans game enabled players such as Beno Bryant, Jaime Fields, Dana Hall, Lincoln Kennedy, Tyrone Rodgers, Darius Turner, Damon Mack, Mark Brunell, Tommie Smith and the other Smith to come home and shine.

Bryant had the game of his life, rushing for 158 yards on 26 carries and scoring on runs of 7 and 55 yards in the UW's 14-3 victory. Beno, who is still living in Los Angeles, returned a recent call but is notably camera shy so his teammates will describe what took place back then.

"I don't care if it was Husky Stadium or the Coliseum, you always heard the words Beno! Beno! when he was back there for a punt or a kick off return or at running back," Smith said. "That dude is classic. I love him. He did an awesome job in that game at the Coliseum."

Smith and the rest of the defense totally shut down the USC offense that day. The Huskies earned their first victory over the Trojans in Los Angeles since 1980.

Today, Smith is a personal trainer, helping prospective football players and people of all ages to find better fitness. He looks good at age 50, packing just 10 pounds over his Long Beach playing weight of 210.

He still hangs with Snoop Dogg and they've coached together in the celebrity's self-sponsored Long Beach youth leagues. The rapper is a hands-on coach who jumps in the huddle and calls plays. A former wide receiver, he demonstrates pass routes to his impressionable young players.

Snoop admittedly has always been a big booster of the Trojans, but that hardly affects his relationship with Smith.

"He's a USC fan and I'm not mad at him," the man called Knocc said. "The Huskies are a Dawg and he's a Dogg. He's got love for the Dawgs and the Dawghouse."

In this video, Smith describes his professional life.

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