DC/LB Coach Jim Knowles (Official Thread)

[RB07OSU]

The coaching doesn't concern me, nor does the talent. What does concern me is the time it takes to make sure every player is knowledgeable of their role, then lining up and playing assignment sound.

Communication and alignment (Pre-snap) are always the two biggest drawbacks to improved defenses when you bring in new coaches. That's why I'm grateful for having some having someone like Tanner Mcallister on this roster.
I haven't seen his named tossed around much, but I think he's going to be very important to seeing better play from the DB room. To have a player already there who knows the language and can help better disseminate that to everyone else both on and off the field is invaluable experience. The most underrated part of this entire off-season, IMHO.

GPA right here. We had all the talent last year and I don't think the position coaches were bad. It was most certainly not being a cohesive unit that understood their roles, the athletes were there but they didn't know where to go. Obviously you want great coaching and talent, but to seem to have both and have such underwhelming results is incredibly frustrating. Hopefully Knowles is the guy to bring it all together and he will have to do it quickly. Everyone here will probably blast me for saying it, but ND is going to have a good offense and we better be ready to go.

And I would double down on your call on McCallister. I have watched his highlights several times and he looks like a great defender that at the very least will do his job, but the biggest thing is knowledge of the system and communication like you said. If Proctor comes back healthy and Ransom and/or Hickman take the next step (Hickman is already very good and doesn't need much of a step, Ransom has shown flashes of serious talent and just needs more consistency), there is seriously zero reason this defensive backfield shouldn't be very good...that is not even accounting for Kye Stokes, who looked like Malik Hooker reincarnate in the Spring Game to me. Burke is a freaking star and Brown is good when he is healthy, plus I love what I am seeing/hearing on both JK Johnson and Hancock...definitely premature to label the last two names as the next greats, but they were highly rated recruits that needed a year under their belts and seem poised to be excellent CBs.

Point is the athletes are there. Everything I have seen and heard from Knowles is that he knows that and seems to be licking his chops with a better arsenal to work with, our talent here is lightyears ahead of what he was working with at Okie State, though he gets to bring in his star with McCallister to help get the other players on the same page. I am very optimistic about his chances for success here for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one is his past ability to get his defense on the same page.

 

[RugbyBuck]

This. I see Knowles as moving up several levels as far as talent goes, but without the same jump up in competition. The B1G is probably better, but not substantially better.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

This. I see Knowles as moving up several levels as far as talent goes, but without the same jump up in competition. The B1G is probably better, but not substantially better.

One could potentially argue that the offense in the B12 were better, on the whole, than what he’d see in the B1G as well. He may have to adapt some of what he does to deal with the battering ram running games from a few of the teams though.

 

[mendensa]

One could potentially argue that the offense in the B12 were better, on the whole, than what he’d see in the B1G as well. He may have to adapt some of what he does to deal with the battering ram running games from a few of the teams though.

yeah, that's kind of my thought process too. I'm curious how his defense will hold up when a team decides it's going to ram it down our throats, like scUM did last year? There are a few teams in the B1G that are going to stick with it regardless of the score/results/success bc that's who they are. His defensive run scheme will get put to the test during the B1G season more than it ever was in the BIG 12.

 

[dragurd]

yeah, that's kind of my thought process too. I'm curious how his defense will hold up when a team decides it's going to ram it down our throats, like scUM did last year? There are a few teams in the B1G that are going to stick with it regardless of the score/results/success bc that's who they are. His defensive run scheme will get put to the test during the B1G season more than it ever was in the BIG 12.

Yep wisconsin and Notre dame early in the season will tell you a lot

 

[Wells4Heisman]

Found this to be really entertaining outside of the first 5 minutes of fluff. With the Buckeye's talent I can't wait to see the product

 

[pnuts34]

Found this to be really entertaining outside of the first 5 minutes of fluff. With the Buckeye's talent I can't wait to see the product

Wait, why aren't you complaining about his losses in recruiting?

 

[buchtelgrad04]

yeah, that's kind of my thought process too. I'm curious how his defense will hold up when a team decides it's going to ram it down our throats, like scUM did last year? There are a few teams in the B1G that are going to stick with it regardless of the score/results/success bc that's who they are. His defensive run scheme will get put to the test during the B1G season more than it ever was in the BIG 12.

The B12 had 3 offenses that were top 30 in rushing. Of those 3:

Baylor, was top 10. In the two games they played against Baylor, the gave up a combined 169 yards on 62 carries. In the first game Baylor had a long run of 55 yards. In the second game they had a long of 28 yards. Take away those two runs, that’s 60 attempts for 86 yards.

They dominated TCU from the start and their running success came against backups. They still only averaged 3.4ypc.

Bijan Robinson is the only one that I saw that had success. But that’s Bijan Robinson lol.

That doesn’t mean anything for Ohio State, but it shows his scheme can shut down decent rushing attacks.

 

[RugbyBuck]

It occurs to me that I may not have been reading all of the tea leaves as I've focused on the B12/less defensive talent v. B1G/more defensive talent comparison. I think the vulvarene beatdown was a relative anomaly that happens every decade or so, i.e. Bitchy-bazooka, Tim. Most years, though, even a less than optimal defense gets us through the regular season schedule. The question, then, and I admit I haven't looked for the data, is how have Knowles' teams done against top competition (however that's defined in Okie's experience) from which we might extrapolate how the scheme will hold up against Alabama, uga, possibly still Clemson, etc in the CFP?

 

[RB07OSU]

It occurs to me that I may not have been reading all of the tea leaves as I've focused on the B12/less defensive talent v. B1G/more defensive talent comparison. I think the vulvarene beatdown was a relative anomaly that happens every decade or so, i.e. Bitchy-bazooka, Tim. Most years, though, even a less than optimal defense gets us through the regular season schedule. The question, then, and I admit I haven't looked for the data, is how have Knowles' teams done against top competition (however that's defined in Okie's experience) from which we might extrapolate how the scheme will hold up against Alabama, uga, possibly still Clemson, etc in the CFP?

I don't think Okie State has played the likes of those teams, unless you count Oklahoma. I personally would count Oklahoma right up there (not quite at the Bama and Clemson historic levels perhaps), so I am curious how Knowles' defenses have fared against Oklahoma. Regardless, Knowles is going to have a strong test with ND right out of the gate...I said this in the game thread that our fellow BP'ers may not want to hear this, but ND's offense should be relatively strong. Not world beaters, but certainly capable.

That said, looking at our schedule, we are not going to get a test like Bama/Clemson, etc. during the regular season. Unless a B1G team's offense breaks out big, the biggest offensive threats I see are PSU and scUM next season. While Sparty, Iowa and Wisconsin are historically good teams, I don't see them having potent offenses (perhaps that is redundant to say, but they comprise almost a quarter of our schedule). Then you have Arkansas State, Toledo, Rutgers, NW, Indiana and Maryland. So presuming we do in fact make the CFP, I don't think we are going to know how a Knowles defense as applied to OSU can hold up to the teams you mentioned.

 

[1926Buckeyes]

It occurs to me that I may not have been reading all of the tea leaves as I've focused on the B12/less defensive talent v. B1G/more defensive talent comparison. I think the vulvarene beatdown was a relative anomaly that happens every decade or so, i.e. Bitchy-bazooka, Tim. Most years, though, even a less than optimal defense gets us through the regular season schedule. The question, then, and I admit I haven't looked for the data, is how have Knowles' teams done against top competition (however that's defined in Okie's experience) from which we might extrapolate how the scheme will hold up against Alabama, uga, possibly still Clemson, etc in the CFP?

They didn't give up more than 24 points to anyone last year in the regular season (including Oklahoma, who got 9 points from a safety and defensive TD).

Against teams ranked at the time in 2021, they gave up 20 (KSU), 14 (Baylor), 24 (Texas), 33 (Oklahoma, but included 9 defensive points), and 21 (Baylor). In 2020, they gave up 41 twice and 34 once against Texas, OU, and Miami FL, respectively. Don't think they played anyone bigger.

The main concern I have is the pressure ideology being exploited with screens, draws, and wide open RBs slipping out of the backfield without anyone there to cover them. ND exposed this issue over and over again in the 1st half of the bowl game, albeit with a greener play caller, not Knowles himself.

The talent is there this year, and it'll be in the form of players that aren't fresh out of high school. I'm confident that while we don't know if any of these players are future Bosa's or Ward's, more than a few have great potential and can match up with Bama's players. It comes down to Knowles being able to teach the basics well enough, and then have time to create enough looks to confuse the opposing team and not telegraph pressure.

 

[RB07OSU]

They didn't give up more than 24 points to anyone last year in the regular season (including Oklahoma, who got 9 points from a safety and defensive TD).

Against teams ranked at the time in 2021, they gave up 20 (KSU), 14 (Baylor), 24 (Texas), 33 (Oklahoma, but included 9 defensive points), and 21 (Baylor). In 2020, they gave up 41 twice and 34 once against Texas, OU, and Miami FL, respectively. Don't think they played anyone bigger.

The main concern I have is the pressure ideology being exploited with screens, draws, and wide open RBs slipping out of the backfield without anyone there to cover them. ND exposed this issue over and over again in the 1st half of the bowl game, albeit with a greener play caller, not Knowles himself.

The talent is there this year, and it'll be in the form of players that aren't fresh out of high school. I'm confident that while we don't know if any of these players are future Bosa's or Ward's, more than a few have great potential and can match up with Bama's players. It comes down to Knowles being able to teach the basics well enough, and then have time to create enough looks to confuse the opposing team and not telegraph pressure.

There is those facts and evidents. Thanks for digging that up, particularly Oklahoma and the caveat that 9 points were not given up by the defense. 2020 stats do not look top notch in the bad games, but neither is all of last year pretty much on our end. Hopefully Knowles can disguise the pressure as you said, offenses knew everything that was coming last season to the point where you just shake your head. Talent is there as you said, just use it right.

 

[RugbyBuck]

Assuming that ND is actually bringing something to the fight, I think you're right that win or lose they will give us some idea of who and what we've got. As much as I'd like to poleaxe the domers, I'm not sure that's super productive in an opener. If they're good to very good, we probably won't completely run away with it and if we do, it's probably because they're not nearly as good as hyped. I think a relatively close win with the defense playing solid, but with things to work on is a good and probable scenario.

 

[buchtelgrad04]

Assuming that ND is actually bringing something to the fight, I think you're right that win or lose they will give us some idea of who and what we've got. As much as I'd like to poleaxe the domers, I'm not sure that's super productive in an opener. If they're good to very good, we probably won't completely run away with it and if we do, it's probably because they're not nearly as good as hyped. I think a relatively close win with the defense playing solid, but with things to work on is a good and probable scenario.

As much as I agree with you, you need to hush lol.

Bucks - 100
Domers - 0

 

[Zurp]

How much is Ohio state’s offense going to hurt the defensive numbers? It’s easy (easier) to put up good defensive numbers when your offense spends 6 minutes of game clock for each drive. But when Ohio state scores in 3 minutes, the defense is going to get tired. Plus, if you’re up 28 late in the third quarter, don’t you tend to go into a conservative scheme? I don’t mean prevent defense, but maybe don’t blitz as much and make sure you have lots of safety help. The other team may score, but make them take a lot of time off the clock to do it.

I wonder if Ohio state’s defense is really good, but can’t show any stats to indicate top 10. I hope that doesn’t mean the championship is a defensive failure.