Josh Heupel bets on quick defensive fix from new Tennessee DC Jim Knowles

Jim Knowles has a track record of building elite defenses. But history shows it typically takes a year or two to establish things and achieve improved results. It was that way at Oklahoma State, then Ohio State, where he won a national championship during the 2024 season with the No. 1 scoring defense in the country. After a quick stop at Penn State, Knowles brought that track record to Rocky Top this offseason, where Tennessee is hoping for a fast turnaround.

Josh Heupel, for his part, sounded confident about it at SEC Media Days on Monday.

“You look back, he’s made some jumps in Year 1,” Heupel said. “Maybe not to where he ended, where he’s No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 in defense, third down defense, whatever, whatever it might be. He’s taken some positive jumps.”

The historical record suggests otherwise.

At his previous four stops as a power-conference defensive coordinator — going back to Duke in 2010 — only once did Knowles improve the team’s points allowed per game from the year before he arrived. That came at Ohio State in 2022, when the Buckeyes trimmed their scoring defense from 22.8 points a game to 21.0 in his first season.

Everywhere else, it got worse first. 

Jim Knowles’ Year 1 scoring defenses

Tennessee gave up 28.8 points per game in 2025, ranking tied for 92nd nationally and 14th in the SEC. It was the worst scoring-defense mark since Heupel’s first year in 2021, and a big step backward from a defense that ranked seventh nationally with 16.1 points allowed per game in 2024.

The Vols aren’t asking Knowles to build a championship defense overnight, but they are counting on noticeable progress after a disappointing 2025.

Why Heupel thinks this time is different

Heupel’s confidence that Knowles can produce immediate results isn’t just optimism for optimism’s sake. He has his own history of moving around to different programs, and that experience shaped how he approached the hire back in December.

Heupel pointed to what Knowles had faced at his past stops. A new coordinator is often limited in how many assistants can follow him to a new job, leaving him to teach his scheme to an entire room of position coaches who have never run it before.

“Those are major hurdles that you encounter when you’re a new coordinator at a new university,” Heupel said.

Instead of leaving Knowles to clear that hurdle again, Tennessee built him a staff that already speaks his language.

Co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Anthony Poindexter worked alongside Knowles at Penn State, as did new LEOs coach Andrew Jackson.

New cornerbacks coach Derek Jones goes back further than anyone else on staff. He coached Duke’s defensive backs under Knowles from 2010 to 2017. Jones wasn’t Tennessee’s first choice at the position; he was hired in February after original cornerbacks coach Michael Hunter Jr., who had worked under Knowles at Oklahoma State and Ohio State, left for an NFL job with the Los Angeles Rams just five weeks into his time in Knoxville.

Tennessee also brought in a couple of familiar defensive analysts, including Brent Zdebski, who has worked under Knowles at every stop since 2021, starting at Oklahoma State.

“We hired a staff member that’s been with him in the unit room, position rooms, on the grass with him on game day at every level of the defense,” Heupel said. “I think that’s part of why they were able to look at their teaching patterns, continue to sync those things up, get it to our players as seamlessly and quickly as possible.

“I can’t be prouder of how our guys have grabbed onto it. Extremely excited about getting on the grass with those guys here as we start getting ready for kickoff in September.”

Heupel still has a quarterback decision to make

While Knowles’ arrival has dominated the offseason conversation on defense, Heupel still has one major question to answer on offense. The Vols will enter preseason camp with an ongoing quarterback competition between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and five-star true freshman Faizon Brandon, and Heupel made it clear Monday that neither player has separated heading into August.

“I know much is going to be made about our quarterback situation as we come in, starting our fifth different quarterback in five years,” Heupel said. “At some point, I’m going to have the opportunity to come back here with a returning starter at quarterback.”

Brandon, the No. 3 quarterback recruit from the 2026 class, generated significant buzz during spring practice with his physical tools and poise, but MacIntyre’s familiarity with the offense and steady play kept the battle even heading into the summer. Heupel said choosing a starter will come down to much more than arm talent.

“I don’t think there is just one thing at the quarterback position,” Heupel said. “At the end of the day, the guy that will be the guy is the guy that’s going to have complete control of what we’re doing and puts us in the best position to win football games and score points.”

Regardless of who wins the job, Heupel expressed confidence that Tennessee can continue to produce offensively despite breaking in another new starter, noting the Vols have started a different quarterback in seven of the past nine seasons while still finishing among the nation’s top 15 scoring offenses in four of the past five years.