More ex-Whitecaps head to San Antonio: Wagner, Knight off to NASL

Wes Knight

San Antonio is collecting the Vancouver Whitecaps’ diaspora.

On Friday, the NASL expansion side announced that it had signed ex-Whitecaps Blake Wagner and Wes Knight. Wagner and Knight will join two other former Whitecaps, Kevin Harmse and Greg Janicki — who were the first two signings the Scorpions ever made.

Scorpions head coach Tim Hankinson expects Wagner and Knight to bolster the team’s flanks, saying in a press release that “Wagner and Knight will provide attacking play to the wing back positions.”

Knight joined the Whitecaps in 2009 and played in almost 60 division-2 matches with Vancouver. He made the move with the Whitecaps to MLS, and played 21 minutes in the 2011 season-opening win over Toronto FC. Knight played a grand total of 805 MLS minutes for the Whitecaps before he was let go at the end of August.

The Montreal Impact put Knight’s name on its trial list late last season, and Knight also spent time this winter trying out for Real Salt Lake. But, he will spent 2012 back in Division-2.

Wagner’s story is a lot like Knight’s — an American outside back who joined the team in the Division-2 days, and then graduated to MLS. Wagner was cut a month before the Whitecaps set Knight free, which gave Wagner time to find another MLS job. He earned a deal with Real Salt Lake, and spent the rest of the season with that club, getting into two games. But, he wasn’t brought back for 2012.

Wagner was a second-round draft pick in 2006 (back when second-round SuperDraft picks had a much better chance of sticking in MLS than they do now), and spent the better part of four seasons with FC Dallas, playing in 40 games with the Hoops before being set free and then heading to Vancouver.

But, the Scorpions are becoming to the Whitecaps what the Whitecaps are to the Carolina RailHawks.