Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Photo via RTI.
Following the firing of defensive coordinator Tim Banks, Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel tabbed well-respected Jim Knowles as his replacement. Knowles was considered one of the top options available after building up top units at Duke and Oklahoma State and helping lead Ohio State to a national championship.
Seemingly, at every stop, he’s been able to turn the program’s defense into not just an acceptable group, but a truly dominant force. As he attempts to do the same at Tennessee after just one season at Penn State, he reflected on what has led to his immense success.
“The players, number one, so the players,” Knowles said. “But two is having answers. That is the most critical thing, having answers. Because you’re always going to get into situations in a game where you have to have an answer for how they’re hurting you or how they’re attacking you. Or you’re going to go week to week in college football where offenses change. So that’s my job. I think that’s why it’s worked, why our stop rate has been so good, is because we’re going to have answers. We’re going to have answers to anything an offense can do.”
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Things haven’t always clicked in year one for Knowles, though. Instead, at times, it’s taken a couple of years for his defense to get its footing and surge toward the top of the statistical leaderboards.
That has created a notion that his defense is tough to learn. As he looks to implement it at UT, there isn’t much time to waste, though. Tennessee is urgently looking to return to College Football Playoff conversations after an 8-5 (4-4 SEC) season in 2025.
As Knowles installs it this offseason, he says it’s mostly a clean slate.
“I’ve done it differently at different places,” Knowles said. “But here we are starting from a clean slate. That doesn’t mean that we don’t use some things that they’ve used in the past. I try to listen to maybe a certain way that they called a certain thing, and I can change on that if they’re already familiar with a certain term. But in general, I’d say we’re starting from a clean slate.”
What will help is the addition of four Penn State transfers who played under Knowles a year ago. Linebacker Amare Campbell, edge rusher Chaz Coleman, defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam and defensive back Dejuan Lane all join the roster and could be integral to the group hitting the ground running.