Familiarity key for Jim Knowles in year one at Tennessee — and more

Believe it or not, Tennessee is just a few weeks away from spring football getting underway. The Volunteers will be working through a new defensive install, with Jim Knowles now calling the shots. The veteran coordinator has been regarded as one of the top defensive coordinators in the nation over the past several seasons, thanks to his work at Duke, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Penn State.

Tennessee, which moved on from Tim Banks following the 2025 season, will be putting Knowles’ defense on the practice field for the first time in a little under a month. That means new language, responsibilities and hearing it from a new voice for the first time.

“I’ve done it differently at different places,” Knowles said of his defensive install. “But here we are starting from a clean slate. That doesn’t mean that we don’t use some things that they’ve used in the past. I try to listen to maybe a certain way that they called a certain thing, and I can change on that if they’re already familiar with a certain term. But in general, I’d say we’re starting from a clean slate.”

Something that will make things a little easier for Knowles this time around will be familiarity on staff and on the roster. Knowles was able to build his defensive staff in Knoxville, along with keeping on Rodney Garner and William Inge.

Chaz Coleman, easily Tennessee’s biggest pickup in the transfer portal, gives him a potential big-time pass rusher that can can toss on the edge. Knowles went to work with him last year at Penn State, working to develop the former 5-star prospect.

“He’s explosive,” Knowles said. “He’s difficult to block. He has a little bit of an invisible cloak, you where he can twist, turn, beat guys one-on-one. He has great initial quickness off the ball. So he’s a guy that can create havoc for an offense and really creates a matchup issue.”

The 6-4, 246 pound edge rusher will be joined by three of his teammates. Tennessee added Xavier Gilliam on the interior, Amare Campbell at linebacker and Dejaun Lane at safety.

“We can go faster than other situations that I’ve been in because of the fact, like you said, that we have a lot of coaches who have worked with me before,” Knowles said. “So that’s a huge advantage. So definitely faster than other places. And we have a few players, which is really kind of crazy in this day and age, that you have a few players that have been in this system, really at all levels of the defense. Xavier, Amare , DayDay, Chaz. At all levels, they’ve been around, so they can help.”

Now it’ll be about getting the rest of the roster up to speed.

“We do try to throw a lot at them early,” Knowles said of his install plan. “It’s a whole, part, whole philosophy. You know, kind of start out, throw a lot at them, see what they can take, shrink it down. Once you figure out their strengths and weaknesses and how they learn, it’s really important how they learn. And then hopefully build it back up to whole on the other end. But how you get to the other end is really based on the players and how they pick it up. But I’ll put in a lot, shrink it way down, to see what they know, and then take it step by step to build it back up.”

Knowles’ units have historically taken a year or two to get rolling, at least statistically. He built the Oklahoma State defense into a top five unit by year four and followed a similar path previously at Duke. Knowles capitalized on elite talent at Ohio State, finishing third and first in total defense in his two seasons in Columbus.

Tennessee went from a top-ten unit statistically in 2024 to one of the worst units in the SEC in 2025. Now with a completely remade depth chart, it’ll be very interesting to see how much different Tennessee looks on that side of the ball this fall.

Konstantinos Karetsas looks like a true gem, and this summer Chelsea are bound to be in the mix of teams trying to buy him.

Chelsea are bound to make some big transfer moves this summer, and while there may be a major first team addition or two, the bulk of their business will likely continue in the trend of buying young players to develop.

We’re continually linked with expensive deals for 25 or 26 year olds. But the reality is that players between 18 and 23 will be our main targets. That’s why we’re more convinced by our reported interest in Konstantinos Karetsas of Genk.

Karetsas rightly a top target for Chelsea and other big teams

Konstantinos Karetsas playing for KRC Genk.

The 18 year old is a true wonderkid, and a report from Sport Witness today translates claims from Belgium that the Genk star is being chased by Man City as well as the Blues. He somehow has a ridiculous 15 assist to his name in 35 games this season, and you can see why a creative magician like that would be in demand all over.

Best of all, the fee mentioned is just €28m. That’s so low that we can see multiple sides going for him, and we could get quite the bidding war going. A player of that age, and that quality, could easily be going for closer to €40m.

In other news…

Estevao has settled in nicely at Chelsea, and he’s working hard off the pitch as well as on it to fit in and adapt as quickly as possible.

Fellow Man City academy star Morgan Rogers would be a dream signing for most Chelsea fans, but he’s now being linked with Tottenham. Can you really see Spurs spending £100m on a player though? That’s what Villa may want…

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here:

Dario Essugo was brought in to ease the pressures in Chelsea’s midfield caused by Romeo Lavia’s injury record. In fact the opposite happened.

Romeo Lavia signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2023, with a lot of people very excited about his arrival.

His first season was, in the end, a total dud. He arrived injury, played 32 minutes around Christmas, then disappeared with another injury and wasn’t seen again. Last season was only slightly better, and this year has been more of the same.

In response to the Belgian basically already looking like he will never be fit, let alone reliable, Chelsea added another defensive midfielder, Dario Essugo, last summer. The irony is, the Portugal international is on course to actually BEAT Lavia’s record. At least the former Man City man managed 32 minutes in his first year. Essugo, so far, has 0.

March return date means Essugo cutting it fine to beat Lavia

Liam Rosenior takes his first Chelsea training session, with Dario Essugo present.

According to our latest update, which came at the start of the month, Essugo will be out until March. It’s a race against time – can the midfielder get back fit, and then match fit, in time to pick up some sub appearances before the campaign is out? Lavia’s record is not one you want.

It’s been clear for a while that the €23m summer signing’s first season is a write off. That’s ok, it happens. What he can’t afford is to have all of his first three years being ruined by injury like Lavia.

In other news…

Konstantinos Karetsas looks a real talent, and we’re not surprised Chelsea are being linked with the 18 year old.

Estevao has settled in nicely at Chelsea, and he’s working hard off the pitch as well as on it to fit in and adapt as quickly as possible.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: