Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538407
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 5 41 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M O P I N I O N THOMAS FRANK CARR T F R A N K .C A R R @ O N 3 .C O M O ne of the recurring themes of Penn State's offseason has been that Jim Knowles' defense is complex. We heard it when he came aboard in Janu- ary as the Nittany Lions' new defensive coordinator. We then asked him about it at his introductory news conference, and when the Big Ten Network's Train- ing Camp Tour stopped in Happy Valley earlier this month, the topic came up yet again. What does complex mean? For start- ers, it means that Penn State is shift- ing away from a play-fast mentality. As head coach James Franklin outlined during BTN's visit, there has been a specific blueprint in place since Manny Diaz took over the unit in 2022. "The last two defensive coordinators, we played a ton of man coverage, which was really important," Franklin said. Knowles is expanding the playbook and asking his players to do a lot. In fact, he's asking them to do almost every- thing. The complexity of Diaz's defense was most evident in the fronts it pre- sented to the offense. During the 2022 and '23 seasons, he used blitzing and pressure to dictate where the football could go. By contrast, Knowles uses diverse coverages to disorient the quarterback, allowing the defense to send bodies to the point of attack. Last year, Ohio State ran at least 100 defensive snaps in four different cover- age schemes. That's compared to three coverage families with more than 100 snaps for Penn State. Nearly 40 percent of the Nittany Lions' snaps were in Cover 1 (man coverage). Furthermore, Penn State was in a single-high cover- age look nearly 60 percent of the time when you include Cover 3. The goal was to play simple and fast. Playing a simple scheme with excel- lent technique works great when you have superior talent. You can function- ally erase certain offenses from games if you have the right personnel. However, Penn State isn't always the most talented team on the field. It plays some of the best teams in college football each year. Franklin believes Knowles' game plan can help the Lions compete with any offensive scheme. "I think Jim is helping us in those one or two games a year where we've got to have more answers," he said. "This de- fense provides it." At Ohio State last year, Knowles used Cover 1 on 24 percent of the Buckeyes' total defensive snaps. He used Cover 2 on 18 percent of all snaps, Cover 3 and Cover 4 on 17 percent apiece, and Cover 6 on 5.6 percent. That is an incredibly even split between every major basic coverage scheme in football. Knowles summed up the approach succinctly in February when he said, "I want to do it all." Another way to examine a defense's complexity is to look at where the safe- ties are positioned in deep coverage. When a quarterback scans the defense, he doesn't necessarily need to know if he's facing, say, Cover 2. It's very helpful if he can get a bead on the coverage pre- snap and confirm post-snap, but he's looking for a simpler indicator: Is there a safety in the middle of the field or not? When there is, the middle of the field is "closed." If there isn't and there are two safeties deep, the middle of the field is "open." Ohio State ran 26 percent of its plays from an open look and 23 percent from a closed look. This approach made it hard for the opposing offensive coordinator to game- plan because he didn't know what cov- erage family to attack. Most pass plays are designed with a specific coverage in mind. If you have to attack multiple cov- erages with one play, the tendency is to have less-potent concepts. Even in man coverage situations, Knowles took a very evenhanded ap- proach. Ohio State used a press coverage look on roughly 50 percent of its defen- sive snaps last year. At Penn State, then-defensive coor- dinator Tom Allen was in a press look roughly 80 percent of the time. That can work, but it does limit your team's ability to disguise or run certain cover- ages. You're locking yourself into spe- cific concepts when you have defenders nose-to-nose with wide receivers. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotel- nicki has jokingly referred to Knowles as "the Professor." When asked about it, Knowles said he takes it as a compliment. "It's my job to think ahead, to be a problem solver, to be a great teacher," he said. "I don't take offense to it, be- cause I think teaching is certainly one of the things that we as coaches need to be best at, and problem-solving. So, if that's a professor, I'll take it." One of Penn State's big unknowns this season is what Knowles has come up with now that he's had a chance to thoroughly assess his talent. Every good coordinator adjusts and adapts each year. As he said himself, Knowles is al- ways thinking ahead. ■ In Jim Knowles' Hands, Complexity Is A Useful Tool As he did at Ohio State, Knowles is expected to use mul- tiple coverage schemes to keep opposing quarterbacks guessing. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER UPON FURTHER REVIEW