On Monday, Tennessee football will begin spring practice. Other schools across the SEC are either already underway or about to gear up for their spring camp, as well.
With this stage of the offseason upon us, popular SEC podcast ‘That SEC Podcast‘ had Athlon Sports’ Senior Editor Steven Lassan on the show to give a reason for optimism for each team in the conference.
Despite questions at quarterback, Lassan was confident that Josh Heupel would be able to figure things out offensively. It was the hiring of new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles that he’s most excited about.
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“I think it has to be Jim Knowles,” Lassan said. “Because this is kind of a similar discussion we had with Mississippi State. You trust the head coach that is an offensive-minded guy. You trust him to figure things out. I do think it’s going to take some time with Tennessee’s quarterback battle and, of course, Brazzell is off to the NFL. They’ve got some guys to replace.
“But I think if anything, the defense took such a step back last year, that if you can raise the floor on your defense, it gives the offense some time to figure out what it is and give the quarterback some time to develop. Tennessee was one of the nation’s best defenses just a couple of years ago, so it’s not like this is a huge mountain to climb.
“But I think with Knowles, yeah, things didn’t go well at Penn State. But the totality of the track record there is one of the best defensive coordinators in the country. I like the fact that they brought in Chaz Coleman at defensive end. You look at Amare Campbell at linebacker, Dejuan Lane in the secondary. Tennessee brought in three guys from Penn State (four with defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam) who could help transition this defense to the Knowles scheme.
“One guy at every level, they brought in some assistants. It feels like that get it up to speed timeline is going to be a lot quicker than we saw and what you kind of heard that it takes Knowles two years. I just think if I’m a Tennessee fan, I’m sitting here saying Heupel has done a good job of adapting. They’ve built good run games. I trust Heupel to figure out the quarterback. You may have hired a top-five defensive coordinator.”
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Upon arriving on campus, Knowles hammered the transfer portal to add top talent to his defense. Along with the four Penn State additions, other key additions include Tulane edge rusher Jordan Norman, Auburn cornerback Kayin Lee, Miami defensive back Jaidas Richard, Kansas State safety Qua Moss and Michigan safety TJ Metcalf.
Knowles also retained notable players such as defensive tackle Daevin Hobbs, linebacker Arion Carter, linebacker Edwin Spillman, cornerback Ty Redmond and safety Edrees Farooq.
He also overhauled the defensive staff. While retaining defensive line coach Rodney Garner and linebacker coach William Inge, he hired Anthony Poindexter as the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach, Derek Jones as the secondary coach and Andrew Jackson as the LEOs coach.
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