This year’s Penn State team means serious business. James Franklin’s roster has never looked better. The offense looks to be up from its past renditions under Andy Kotelnicki’s second season as OC. On the other side of the ball, Franklin made the hire of the season by getting Jim Knowles from OSU. Coming from a season of near misses, can this be the year Penn State makes its goal, with a veteran play-caller in tow?

Jim Knowles is arguably one of the best defensive minds in CFB right now, hands down. His last year with the Buckeyes is just one example of his ingenuity. For that one season, Knowles’ defense ranked No. 1 in yards allowed per game (255), points allowed per game (12.9), and red zone touchdown percentage (42%). And now, that same mind joins the veteran one of James Franklin, who, with former DC Tom Allen, also managed to finish as one of the top-ranked defenses last year.

This year, Knowles will help improve an already polished defense and will leave no stone unturned. He told Adam Breneman on his podcast, “You have to be able to stop everything. You have to have answers for everything, you know. There’s no more of, ‘Oh, we can just focus on this or that, tight spread, whatever. You have to have answers in your system for all of it.” That all-hands-on-deck approach has been crucial in Knowles tallying one stellar record after the other.

The DC likes to be prepared for everything. “There’s so much variety out there. So, the things that maybe in the past we didn’t really talk about on a regular basis, you know, we talk about it all now. So, there’s a lot to teach,” he told Breneman. At OSU, Knowles was able to take a lackluster defense from its 59th position in total defense to 14th place. How many defensive minds can do that, and that too in one season?

Penn State too, is warming up very easily to its new DC. Prior to spring ball, Franklin and Knowles seemed to be going ahead with a 4-2-5 plan. Knowles was to install about 50-60% of his system within just one month at the program. His major tasks before the opening game would be finding a No. 2 pass rusher, since the top spot vacated by Abdul Carter would be taken by equally formidable Dani Dennis-Sutton. Then lies the replacement of the DT room, which is one of the deepest in the country. At linebacker, which has a gaping left by star player Kobe King, needs more cementing. The defense has some very new faces, but is stepping in the legacy of an elite one from the past. And with Knowles in charge, Franklin has a shot at going further than where he finished in 2024.

With Jim Knowles at Penn State, Ryan Day stands at a major loss this season. He was a key reason the Buckeyes were able to clinch that Natty. Losing him might just be the biggest mistake Day made, stepping into the 2025 season.

Jim Knowles’ loss might be Ryan Day’s biggest mistake

Towards the end of the season, Knowles was not having a great relationship with the Buckeyes’ staff and management. One very particular reason for his disinterest in an OSU future was clashing with Larry Johnson. The veteran D-line coach and Knowles had some ideological differences, especially in terms of positioning strategy. Both wanted to do things differently. But the final nail in the coffin was a contract fallout with the OSU top brass.

Knowles’ one-year contract was not extended by the management. In fact, the fallout was so sour that Day prevented Knowles from participating in the championship parade. Blake Ruffino and Joe DeLeone discussed how brutally Knowles’ loss can manifest in Day’s future. “Ryan Day and [Ohio State] not getting this done might come back and bite them in the rear end. I mean, I don’t think that Matt Patricia is going to be a bad DC. I don’t. But there also comes a place and time where I ask, ‘What if that does go bad?’…[If] Patricia isn’t good, then you’re like, ‘Ryan, what were you doing!’”

Matt Patricia is a mixed bag when it comes to his presence in the locker room. And yes, Knowles began his contract negotiations at an improper time, which gives reason to put the DC in his bad books. But letting him go will come back to bite him in the future. “I do think that Ryan Day is on the wrong side of this. I thought the Patricia hire was a great hire [and] was one of the few people who supported it. [But] generally, this kind of, you know, screams to me that they mishandled it,” co-host DeLeone said.

One man’s loss is another man’s gain. James Franklin saw the opportunity and ran with it, making his already elite defense even better at the moment. With Knowles’ departure, can Ryan Day continue with that same standard under Patricia? Or is his defense slated for a downturn?