There are many arguments about what piece or pieces adding to Penn State football’s roster, both players and coaches, was the most impactful.
One such piece was the addition of Jim Knowles at defensive coordinator, who arrived at Penn State after architecting Ohio State’s 2024 national championship defense.
‘You Don’t Mess Around With Jim’: Penn State Set to Hire Jim Knowles as Defensive Coordinator
It didn’t take long for Knowles to make an immediate impact on the Penn State roster. Senior quarterback Drew Allar outlined what Knowles has meant to him in some of his first interactions.
“I’ve actually been able to sit down with him (Knowles) and a couple of guys that he brought over from Ohio State, and really sit back and watch the game from last year and just really understand their philosophy…why they were calling certain things and maybe the tells that I had, we had as an offense so all those sorts of things,” Allar said yesterday at Big Ten Media Days, held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
“He (Knowles) was able to show me the scouting report that they had on me and other guys. So I thought it was really positive feedback from the standpoint, like I knew there were areas I needed to work on, but they kind of reconfirmed it…those areas that showed up on film.”
Allar recognizes the heightened expectations this year with the additions of Knowles, a whole new wide receiver core, and impact freshmen like cornerback Daryus Dixson, who Knowles has praised as being one of the most mature players that will make an impact early.
With those expectations comes previous lackluster performances against elite competition.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“I’ve talked a little bit with Coach (James) Franklin and Coach K (Andy Kotelnicki) and for us, you know there, we definitely need to get over that hump,” Allar said.”There’s no question about it. But we’ve also been one of the most consistent programs over his tenure, especially the last 11 years, or whatever he’s been the Penn State head coach. So our process has been working, but we definitely need to find different ways to, you know, come out with different results in those games. And I think for us, at least me specifically, it’s just about execution from a player standpoint.”
Knowles has brought an attention to detail to his defense that has raised a standard to an already great defensive tradition.
Allar commented that he’s going against the best defense in the country in practice every day and the goal of his offense is to be the best in the country.
Overall, Allar feels Knowles experience will translate to him and the rest of the team to help make better plays and decisions in critical moments.
“It’s experience,” Allar said. “The more you’ll be in those moments, the more you know what it feels like on both outcomes, good and bad. So just knowing when those moments do come… resetting your mind to focus on the present, not thinking about the outcome, or anything just focusing on the process of everything to hopefully come out with different outcomes in those opportunities.”
