The Tennessee defense took a major step back in 2025, practically forcing Josh Heupel’s hand. Heupel, who hasn’t really gone outside of his program to make changes, fired Tim Banks and replaced him with
the highly regarded Jim Knowles.
Knowles’ track record speaks for itself. Big improvements at Duke, Oklahoma State and Ohio State have made him one of the top defensive coordinators in the country. However, his results haven’t exactly been instant. Knowles’ turnarounds have come after a few years, with his 4-2-5 base system typically taking a few seasons to see true results.
“I mean, I’ve heard that – not that I read those things – but people tell me that,” Knowles said of the narrative last week on the Mike Keith show. “We’re working on that now. Every new opportunity that you have to install it, you’ve got to find better ways, so I think part of being a great coach is being adjustable and adaptable and listening. A lot of guys get stuck in their ways. So if that’s what some players may have said, I have to take that into account and work. We’re looking at ways to simplify things early on so we can make more progress quickly.”
Knowles took over a Duke group in 2010 that ended up ranking 107th in point allowed per game. By 2014 that number was down to 25th.
Hired at Oklahoma State ahead of the 2017 season, Knowles followed a similar path. His year one defense ranked 98th in points allowed. During the 2021 season, Knowles’ fourth season with the program, Oklahoma State ranked tenth overall in points allowed.
Knowles moved to Ohio State after that, finishing second and first overall in the country in points allowed during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, playing with elite talent.
“Now, one of the things is having coaches who have been with me, which I haven’t had in the past, so that always takes time, and having some players that have been with me, too,” Knowles said of his current transition to Tennessee. “So I think we’ll be way ahead on both of those counts.”
Tennessee retained defensive line coach Rodney Garner and linebackers coach William Inge. Knowles brought safeties coach Anthony Poindexter and LEOs coach Andrew Jackson with him from Penn State, while adding Michael Hunter Jr. from Ohio State to coach the cornerbacks.
Knowles didn’t have any on-field staff follow him from Ohio State to Penn State.
In the transfer portal, Tennessee made a big splash by adding Chaz Coleman to play the LEO spot. Dejaun Lane comes over and will enter into the safety rotation, defensive lineman Xavier Gilliam will be a big factor on the defensive interior, while Amare Campbell will join Arion Carter in the teeth of the defense at linebacker. All four of those particular additions played under Knowles last season at Penn State.
“It’s all about those fundamentals, and that’s really what we’re looking for,” Knowles said. “We want to look to the offense like we are complex, but really within our unit and within the building, everybody knows what to do. So I prefer that one. The presentation should look complex, but it’s really simple inside.”
Tennessee’s defensive makeover is underway, but the real progress will start in March when spring ball begins. The bulk of Tennessee’s 20 transfer additions are on the defensive side of the ball, which will feature an almost entirely new starting 11 this fall.
Their first real test will come on September 12th in Atlanta against Georgia Tech.
