{"id":737772,"date":"2026-02-08T09:57:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T09:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/737772\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T09:57:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T09:57:31","slug":"former-vol-says-he-would-not-let-four-star-son-play-for-tim-banks-praises-jim-knowles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/737772\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Vol Says He Would Not Let Four-Star Son Play For Tim Banks, Praises Jim Knowles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Photo via Ryan Sylvia | RTI<\/p>\n

One of the most consequential moves of Tennessee football\u2019s offseason came back in December when Josh Heupel terminated Tim Banks\u2019 contract and hired veteran coordinator Jim Knowles to replace him. That move could pay dividends on the recruiting trail, at least with one 2027 target.<\/p>\n

Four-star linebacker Kenneth Simon is the son of former Tennessee All-SEC linebacker Kevin Simon and a top target for the Vols in the 2027 cycle. Kevin Simon joined The Eric Ainge Show<\/a> Thursday to discuss Tennessee football, and offered some notable remarks about the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say it like this\u2014 my son was not going to play for Tim Banks,\u201d Simon said.<\/a> \u201cHe just wasn\u2019t. (There was) No identity, and he wasn\u2019t gonna play for him. I love that Jim Knowles is here. And Tennessee is definitely back in the mix now (for Kenneth Simon) with Jim Knowles\u2019 presence. So I\u2019m really excited about where the defense is going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s defense progressively got better during Banks\u2019 first four seasons as defensive coordinator, peaking with a top 15 defense that led the Vols to the College Football Playoffs in 2024. But the Vols\u2019 defense collapse in 2025, ranking 92nd in scoring defense a season ago leading Heupel to make a change.<\/p>\n

More From RTI:\u00a0Which Superlative Tennessee Five-Star Quarterback Faizon Brandon Got From Rivals<\/a><\/p>\n

Simon criticized the lack of identity of Banks\u2019 units and thinks there will be a change with Knowles. He also expressed his pleasure that Rodney Garner remains Tennessee\u2019s defensive line coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving the defense an identity, a personality,\u201d Simon said. \u201cAnd I know things have gone well, but we haven\u2019t necessarily had that, defensively. It\u2019s been led by Rodney Garner, when it\u2019s been at its best, just because he\u2019s the best coach. I mean, I think he\u2019s the best coach on the staff period. He had those guys on the defensive line going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenneth Simon is a four-star recruit who attends Brentwood Academy in Middle Tennessee. He released a top four late last month that included Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound linebacker ranks as a four-star recruit and the No. 252 player in the 2027 recruiting class according to the 247sports composite rankings.<\/a> Simon also ranks as the No. 15 linebacker and No. 11 player in the state of Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Kevin Simon played at Tennessee from 2001-05 and twice earned All-SEC honors before the Washington Redskins selected him in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo via Ryan Sylvia | RTI One of the most consequential moves of Tennessee football\u2019s offseason came back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,2252,106400,106401,49,48,1209,38770],"class_list":{"0":"post-737772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jim-knowles","10":"tag-kenneth-simon","11":"tag-kevin-simon","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football","14":"tag-tennessee-football","15":"tag-tim-banks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116034421802791243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}