What does Tennessee football defensive coordinator Jim Knowles want from his unit in the season opener against Furman? It's safe to say his expectations are high.
"I don't want to give up any yards," he said on Sept. 1. Next: "I want to get a shut out."
And finally: "I don't want to give up any first downs."
The No. 18 Vols are a 46.5-point favorite against Furman (1-0) on Sept. 5 (3:30 p.m., SEC Network+) at Neyland Stadium and it will be Knowles' debut at Tennessee after leaving Penn State. It'll be the first chance for Tennessee's defense to prove itself after a disappointing season last year.
Tennessee's margin for error will lessen dramatically after the Paladins. Week 2 will present a much stiffer challenge at Georgia Tech, and just two weeks
later No. 4 Texas will come to Neyland Stadium as the first of Tennessee's nine SEC games.
After a month of preseason practice, this is the first chance for Knowles to really see what his defense is made of.
"When it comes to the game, if you make a mistake in the game, that's my fault because I didn't get you ready," Knowles said. "But we're really just trying to establish the tempo of preparation for an opponent. It doesn't matter who we're playing."
Tennessee's plans at safety after Edrees Farooq injury
Tennessee's secondary took a significant blow when safety Edrees Farooq suffered a season-ending torn patellar tendon in preseason practice. Knowles said Farooq was one of the players that had impressed him most and admitted replacing him won't be as easy as just calling on the next player on the depth chart.
Penn State transfer Dejuan Lane and Michigan transfer TJ Metcalf are lead candidates to start at safety, but Tennessee has also been rotating players around in practice to make them more positionally interchangeable. Knowles pointed to Kansas State transfer Qua Moss as one of those players.
Moss, the projected starter at nickel, has also been training at high safety. Knowles said he feels Tennessee has enough good linebackers to place help fill in for Moss when they need him in the back end.
"We're just trying to really cross-train everywhere because of the fact that we're a little thin there," Knowles said.
How Knowles is using schemes to generate pass rush
The makeup of the pass rush is one of Tennessee's looming questions entering the season. Those questions only amplified once Penn State transfer Chaz Coleman was medically disqualified after projecting as the team's starting edge rusher.
Tulane transfer Jordan Norman is now the expected starter at edge, and beyond him redshirt freshman Christian Gass, freshman Kedric Golston II and sophomore Mariyon Dye could factor in. Knowles alluded to some schematic creativity helping generate pressure too.
"I thought we did well in the preseason creating some thing through various schemes," Knowles said. "I'm not gonna get into the game plan, but we did some things in fall camp that were effective. I was impressed with what we could generate against our offense, which is a really good offense."
At defensive tackle, Knowles pointed to Xavier Gilliam, who followed him from Penn State as a transfer, as a standout. The Vols also bring back senior defensive tackle Daevin Hobbs and senior defensive end Tyree Weathersby, who they hope can make life difficult for opposing offensive lines.
"Like anything," Knowles said, "game time will tell."
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: What Jim Knowles wants from Tennessee football defense vs Furman. It's a lot
