Beamer Has Run Into Jim Knowles at Every Stop, and Tennessee Is Next

Preparing South Carolina for Saturday's visit from No. 11 Tennessee, Shane Beamer went back to notes he kept nearly a decade ago. He was coaching tight ends at Oklahoma in 2018, 2019 and 2020, working with Lincoln Riley on game plans against an Oklahoma State defense run by Jim Knowles, and he said some of what he found still applies to the 2026 version Knowles now runs for the Volunteers, even though parts of the scheme have evolved since then.

That history runs even longer. Beamer coached running backs at Virginia Tech from 2011 to 2015 while Knowles was the defensive coordinator at Duke, so their teams met every year there as well, and then again in all three of his Oklahoma seasons in the Bedlam series. He joked that he cannot get away from Knowles, calling the experience of facing him a nightmare, and after a four-year break from those meetings, Josh Heupel's decision to hire Knowles brought the matchup back just as Tennessee rotated onto South Carolina's schedule again. The game is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.

Beamer was generous in his assessment of what Knowles has done since arriving from stops at Ohio State and Penn State. A Tennessee defense that struggled badly last season now leads the country with 30 sacks through seven games, ranks first in the SEC in scoring defense at 14.7 points per game, second in pass defense at 159.3 yards per game and fifth in total defense at 280.4 yards per game. Beyond the scheme, Beamer pointed to the physicality and effort on film, an impressive defensive line, and size and experience at linebacker and in the secondary.

Knowles did not rebuild the unit alone. Co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Anthony Poindexter followed him from Penn State, along with LEOs coach Andrew Jackson, while corners coach Derek Jones came from Virginia Tech, and three Penn State transfers have become central pieces. Defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam leads Tennessee with 10.5 tackles for loss, linebacker Amare Campbell leads the team with 46 tackles, and safety Dejuan Lane leads the Vols with three interceptions and four passes broken up, a combination Beamer credited to good players working in a well-run system.