Coaching chaos finally cools down in Athens as Kirby Smart makes a major move to solidify his defensive staff. The Bulldogs are targeting Arkansas State’s defensive line coach Larry Knight to replace Chidera Uzo Diribe after he departed for the Cowboys. Knight’s impact is so profound that one of his former players is publicly urging Smart to make the hire.

“Played under him when he was at Temple,” Temple’s former defensive lineman Khalil Poteat said on X. “He’s everything advertised and more. Georgia will be the best pass-rushing team in the conference.”

Poteat developed under Knight back in 2024 when he joined the program. Later, Knight moved to Arkansas State, and now this season, even Poteat entered the portal. Yet he knows the experience he will bring to Georgia.

During his tenure at Arkansas State as defensive end coach, his team registered 39 sacks, leading the Sun Belt and ranking sixth nationally with 3.0 sacks per game, with a season best of nine sacks against Troy in the 2025 season.

His coaching journey includes a significant stint at Temple, where he started as director of player personnel in 2017. His success there led to a promotion to outside linebackers coach just one season later.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

Even though he never coached at Georgia, he is not new to the town. Back in 2019, he was at Georgia Tech as a defensive lineman and even served as Georgia State’s outside linebacker coach from 2015 to ’16. So, relocating to Athens won’t be a major problem for him.

The team ranked 107th nationally in sacks last season with 20.0 after ranking 20th in the 2024 season. A coach like Knight, with years of experience developing top players like Djimon Brooks, Keion White, and Zeek Biggers from Georgia State and Diwun Black from Temple, is exactly what this position needs.

Apart from college football, he also brings in NFL exposure from his internships with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 and the Green Bay Packers in spring 2025, adding pro-level knowledge to his resume. This blend of pass rush production and various stops will give them a major boost.

Bringing Larry Knight into the locker room pretty much means Georgia is ready to get aggressive again.

The ceiling for the Georgia Bulldogs’ linebackers corps

The biggest expectation for the “Jack” linebackers (the guys who rush off the edge) is fairly high sack production next season. Nowhere cuts in the division like the SEC. It’s absurd to think how the Bulldogs made it all the way to the playoffs’ quarterfinals with that front seven. However, Knight’s reputation as a “pass rush specialist” is supposed to be the secret sauce that fixes that problem.

Fans should expect to see a lot of development from the younger edge rushers like Isaiah Gibson and Chase Linton under Knight’s wing. He has a history of turning raw prospects into NFL-level monsters, so the goal is to take the high-level talent already on the roster and develop them into a game-changing unit.

As for the inside linebackers, the expectations remain sky high because that room is absolutely stacked with talent. Even with star CJ Allen moving on to the NFL, the unit is in great hands with Raylen Wilson and Chris Cole. Both are expected to be the main anchors in the middle. Plus, the Bulldogs’ front seven is stacked with once-five-star athletes. With this level of talent on the roster, there’s no reason the Bulldogs’ sack total should be below 30.

If things go according to plan, this could be one of the most balanced and terrifying linebacker corps Georgia has fielded in recent years, even maybe better than their 2021 one.