By Anna Reifer
It’s been a minute since Vol football’s defense has been this impenetrable.
Despite a dominant performance in 2024, the Vol defense disintegrated in then-defensive coordinator Tim Banks’ fifth year.
To put it nicely, their season was an utter embarrassment.
During the 2025 season, the Vol defense gave up an average of 29 points per game, which ranked 92nd nationally. They also allowed nearly 400 yards per game and ranked 98th in total defense.
Despite rising stars like Arion Carter, Tyree Weathersby, Ty Redmond and others, the Vols could not pass rush, sitting near the bottom of the SEC with 258 passing yards allowed per game.
More catastrophic yet, was the Vols’ inability to stop their opponents, allowing them to convert over 40 percent of third downs, which ranked 97th nationally.
These statistics, combined with the Vols’ inability to tackle, failure to protect the edge and allowance of 6.5 yards per play, made them the defensive laughing stock of the SEC.
Being blunt, the 2025 Vols should not have been ranked after the first few weeks of the season. With a fifth-year senior transfer quarterback in Joey Aguilar, the playoffs were already out of sight, but the Vols could have gotten there if it weren’t for the defense.
Their 2025 regular-season finale against Vanderbilt put salt in Banks’ gaping wound. The Vol defense allowed a ghastly nine yards per play, 582 total yards, a 70 percent third-down conversion rate and recorded just a single sack on Diego Pavia.
Seeing these numbers, Josh Heupel did exactly what he had to do and cleaned house on Dec. 8, firing Banks as well as two other defensive position assistants.
Then the search was on, but only for 72 hours, as the Vols hired Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
But given a simple one-year stint at a program that went 3-6 in conference play, what did this 60-year-old man have left to offer the Vols?
The answer to that is a championship mindset.
Prior to Penn State, Knowles served as defensive coordinator at Ohio State, coaching the Buckeye defense to their 2024 CFP National Championship crown.
With that comes the pinnacle of Knowles’ defensive scheme—the LEO.
Simply put, the LEO is a highly specialized linebacker who possesses the size and physicality to fight an offensive lineman, but has the speed and coverage skills of a linebacker.
Bringing this to life in the Vols’ locker room didn’t take Knowles alone, as he brought a chunk of his Penn State defensive core along with him.
On the coaching side, Anthony Poindexter serves as Knowles’ co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach, while Andrew Jackson plays the pivotal role of integrating the LEO position.
In the locker room, Penn State transfers Xavier Gilliam, Amare Campbell, Dejuan Lane and Chaz Coleman all chose to follow Knowles to Knoxville.
Just halfway through the season, the Vol defense has decimated any expectation of how poorly it was going to perform.
Through seven games, the Vols have allowed 115 fewer yards per game and have essentially cut their points allowed in half, yielding 16 points per game in 2026 versus 29 in 2025.
They are also on pace to double their 2025 total of 37 sacks, having already posted 30 through the home game against Alabama. Leading the pack are Penn State transfer defensive linemen Tyree Weathersby and Xavier Gilliam, with 6.5 and 5.0 sacks, respectively.
What was a defensive disaster in 2025 took on a new look in 2026, with Knowles at the center of the transformation.
With a 6-1 start and a playoff picture starting to come into focus, Knowles should be first on the list of Vols fans’ thanks.