How to Correct Angle when throwing a projectile at/towards a different objects LOCATION?

Hi all,

I have a simple setup of two players in a 3D world view, facing across from each other. They can move back and forth (up/down?) but not side to side. the movement of each player is on the Z axis. If each player is DIRECTLY across from each other and I throw a projectile at the other player, the projectile rotates/spins correctly. Now, if player1 is throwing the projectile at player2 and player2 is NOT DIRECTLY sitting across from player1 (e.g. player1 z location = 1 and player2 z location = 10), my projectile seems to "spin" on the wrong axis, I want the projectile to rotate like a throwing knife that only spins end to end, but no rotation left or right say... I am not using velocity to move my object, I'm just moving it "manually", Is Kinematic is ON, gravity off, I have a rigidbody also for collision later on. See my code below and example picture of what is happening when both players are NOT directly across from each other and a projectile is thrown. Anyone have a rotation solution?

Thanks King

projectile.cs

     // Update is called once per frame
 public float projectileSpeed;
 public float projectileRotationSpeed;
 private Transform projectileTransform;
 
 // Use this for initialization
 
 void Start ()
  {
      projectileTransform = transform;
  }
 
     void Update () 
      {
         float amtToMove = projectileSpeed * Time.deltaTime;
         float amtToRotate = projectileRotationSpeed * Time.deltaTime;
         // Projectile speed is set in the INSPECTOR: to 4
         Vector3 v = Player2.player2Pos - projectileTransform.localPosition;
         //Move the projectile
         projectileTransform.localPosition += v.normalized*amtToMove;
         //Rotate the projectile (i.e. Knife spinning)
         projectileTransform.Rotate(Vector3.back, amtToRotate);
         //Check for boundry, if projectile is past a certain point, destroy it
         if (projectileTransform.localPosition.x > 15.84f)
         {
         Destroy(gameObject);//destroy game object we are attatched too...
         }
         
      }
     

Player.cs

     //Spacebar to throw a projectile
     if (Input.GetKeyDown("space"))
     {
         player1Pos = player1.transform.localPosition;
         
         Instantiate(KnifePrefab,transform.position,Quaternion.identity);
     }