The sixth football season of the Josh Heupel era at Tennessee kicks off Saturday afternoon at 3:30, when the 20th-ranked Volunteers host Furman.
It’s also the first season of the Jim Knowles era as Heupel’s defensive coordinator.
The Vols showed improvement in 2022, 2023 and 2024 under former defensive coordinator Tim Banks, ranking among the top-10 Bowl Subdivision teams in 2024 in both yardage (293.2) and points (16.1) allowed per game. Tennessee imploded last season, however, surrendering 397.2 yards and 28.8 points a contest and barely making the top-100 in either category.
Enter Knowles, the architect of Ohio State’s national championship defense two years ago who is seeking a quality start inside Neyland Stadium.
“I don’t want to give up any yards,” Knowles said Tuesday in a news conference. “I want to get a shutout. I don’t want to give up any first downs. Every game you go into is a process, but mostly I want to teach how we prepare for an opponent.”