Jim Knowles

[wptlion]

Any idea how he got Tennessee to play defense in year one? I'm thinking it might have something to do with talent. Or in our case last year--lack of talent.

 

[KingLando]

No...it has with the lack of interference from his HC

 

[PSU Soupy 615]

his best D lineman who brought from PSU - Xavier Worthy might be best DT in SEC this year. He would have helped PSU this year. His best LB is A. Campbell from PSU. and his best or 2nd best secondary player is Lane from PSU.

The talent is better than what was at PSU last year in the front 7. His defense relies on pressure from rushing 4 and changing defenses on the back end to fool the QB. Tennessee does not blitz so much yet leads the SEC in Sacks. Very good Defense. I posted a similar message two weeks ago about Tennessee's defense and their year 1 of Knowles being very good. My guess would be that talent was down and perhaps Knowles could not do all that he perhaps wanted to do with our head coach at the time.

 

[CDLionFL]

Gilliam. Xavier Gilliam. Landon did a breakdown video of him this week and he’s been a terror. Impressive display by the Vols to squash Bama’s offense. Unfortunately, we couldn’t retain the best talent on defense outside of Rojas and Tracy and we’re paying the price.

 

[wptlion]

his best D lineman who brought from PSU - Xavier Worthy might be best DT in SEC this year. He would have helped PSU this year. His best LB is A. Campbell from PSU. and his best or 2nd best secondary player is Lane from PSU.

The talent is better than what was at PSU last year in the front 7. His defense relies on pressure from rushing 4 and changing defenses on the back end to fool the QB. Tennessee does not blitz so much yet leads the SEC in Sacks. Very good Defense. I posted a similar message two weeks ago about Tennessee's defense and their year 1 of Knowles being very good. My guess would be that talent was down and perhaps Knowles could not do all that he perhaps wanted to do with our head coach at the time.

I agree---Franklin had let the talent level, especially the depth deteriorate. But it is funny how everyone last year was saying JK's defense took 2 years to work. Just one more reason that JF needed fired.

 

[PSU Soupy 615]

Gilliam. Xavier Gilliam. Landon did a breakdown video of him this week and he’s been a terror. Impressive display by the Vols to squash Bama’s offense. Unfortunately, we couldn’t retain the best talent on defense outside of Rojas and Tracy and we’re paying the price.

Yes Xavier Gilliam......my bad. Xavier Worthy is the 4.2 speedster at WR.....he would get killed and not help our run defense, unless the RB was about to break a long run.....he could run him down from behind..... : )

 

[Marshall2323]

his best D lineman who brought from PSU - Xavier Worthy might be best DT in SEC this year. He would have helped PSU this year. His best LB is A. Campbell from PSU. and his best or 2nd best secondary player is Lane from PSU.

The talent is better than what was at PSU last year in the front 7. His defense relies on pressure from rushing 4 and changing defenses on the back end to fool the QB. Tennessee does not blitz so much yet leads the SEC in Sacks. Very good Defense. I posted a similar message two weeks ago about Tennessee's defense and their year 1 of Knowles being very good. My guess would be that talent was down and perhaps Knowles could not do all that he perhaps wanted to do with our head coach at the time.

and when Smith took over?

 

[Alphalion75]

his best D lineman who brought from PSU - Xavier Worthy might be best DT in SEC this year. He would have helped PSU this year. His best LB is A. Campbell from PSU. and his best or 2nd best secondary player is Lane from PSU.

The talent is better than what was at PSU last year in the front 7. His defense relies on pressure from rushing 4 and changing defenses on the back end to fool the QB. Tennessee does not blitz so much yet leads the SEC in Sacks. Very good Defense. I posted a similar message two weeks ago about Tennessee's defense and their year 1 of Knowles being very good. My guess would be that talent was down and perhaps Knowles could not do all that he perhaps wanted to do with our head coach at the time.

Who is Xavier Worthy? The former PSU lineman is Xavier Gilliam.

 

[JoePaMajorCFBrecord409Ws]

I agree---Franklin had let the talent level, especially the depth deteriorate. But it is funny how everyone last year was saying JK's defense took 2 years to work. Just one more reason that JF needed fired.

You people are so full of crap - Franklin lost some of his best recruits (and players) in 2024 and 2025 classes because Kraft broke promises regarding roster/NIL funding promises. Franklin was a great recruiter if Kraft would have delivered on his promises which he didn't. Now we're supposed to be patient with Campbell (who spent more than Franklin [$30 million-ish] bringing his chosen players), but there was no sympathy for Franklin regarding Kraft's undermining selfish behavior, broken promises and destructive decision-making??? You people make zero f-ing sense.

 

[m.knox]

his best D lineman who brought from PSU - Xavier Worthy might be best DT in SEC this year. He would have helped PSU this year. His best LB is A. Campbell from PSU. and his best or 2nd best secondary player is Lane from PSU.

The talent is better than what was at PSU last year in the front 7. His defense relies on pressure from rushing 4 and changing defenses on the back end to fool the QB. Tennessee does not blitz so much yet leads the SEC in Sacks. Very good Defense. I posted a similar message two weeks ago about Tennessee's defense and their year 1 of Knowles being very good. My guess would be that talent was down and perhaps Knowles could not do all that he perhaps wanted to do with our head coach at the time.

Getting pressure with 4...... Seems to be an alien concept around here these days.

 

[KingLando]

Franklin was a great recruiter if Kraft would have delivered on his promises which he didn't.

Might be the most biased things I've read yet

 

[psuno1]

Getting pressure with 4...... Seems to be an alien concept around here these days.

Yeah what I heard we are running a different defense going to have 270 275 DE that cannot get the Qb. Like whoever No 1 is some guy from ISU who never did anything there but going to be a AA at PSU. instead of guys like abdul carter and micah parsons. No thanks. need way more playmakers on D.

 

[PSU Soupy 615]

Who is Xavier Worthy? The former PSU lineman is Xavier Gilliam.

I admitted my mistake........ sorry. I even outlined that there is a WR playing in the NFL named X Worthy.........

 

[Marshall2323]

 

[NitFan89]

You people are so full of crap - Franklin lost some of his best recruits (and players) in 2024 and 2025 classes because Kraft broke promises regarding roster/NIL funding promises. Franklin was a great recruiter if Kraft would have delivered on his promises which he didn't. Now we're supposed to be patient with Campbell (who spent more than Franklin [$30 million-ish] bringing his chosen players), but there was no sympathy for Franklin regarding Kraft's undermining selfish behavior, broken promises and destructive decision-making??? You people make zero f-ing sense.

That’s why in my opinion Franklin was never liked from the beginning. I hate it just as much as you do that PSU admin did what they did. We had our coach.

 

[JoePaMajorCFBrecord409Ws]

Yeah what I heard we are running a different defense going to have 270 275 DE that cannot get the Qb. Like whoever No 1 is some guy from ISU who never did anything there but going to be a AA at PSU. instead of guys like abdul carter and micah parsons. No thanks. need way more playmakers on D.

Yes, Campbell ran a gimmicky 3-3-5 at ISU in b12. Most teams in b1g and SEC run a "stop/contain the running game first" 4-3 defense with an adjustment to a nickel-back on 2nd and 3rd-&-long situations.

But Campbell attempting to run his gimmicky b12 defense @ PSU in b1g is another questionable decision in a long list of questionable coaching decisions (including huge x-fer Portal spending on very average players).

An effective AD, which Kraft is not, would have asked Campbell about the Offensive and Defensive schemes he intended to run and how he intended to make adjustments if they were different than what he ran at ISU..... and what his experience was with the new schemes he intended to run at PSU..... etc.....

IOW, the ROOT CAUSE of many of the problems we are seeing reside with Krafty The Clown's ineptitude and making snap decisions without asking the proper coaching interview questions. Kraft dissed Chesney who wanted to come here (born and raised just east of State College in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania) - Chesney is 6-0 at UCLA and his resume ("unbelievably successful everywhere he's been" including at UCLA now) is drawing rave reviews, but Kraft knew better - go figure LMAO.