The biggest reason the Tennessee Vols landed Penn State transfer EDGE Chaz Coleman this offseason was because of his connection to UT defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.

Knowles, who was hired by Tennessee in December, coached Coleman last season at Penn State during the talented pass rusher’s true freshman season.

Coleman was expected to be a featured player in Knowles’ defense on Rocky Top this fall, but the Penn State transfer has been away from the team while dealing with “personal issues” for most of the offseason. He isn’t expected to be part of Tennessee’s football team in 2026.

Naturally, some fans and media analysts have questioned whether Knowles — and Vols LEOs coach Andrew Jackson, who was also at Penn State last year — should’ve seen the issues with Coleman coming after spending last season with him.

Vols insider addresses if Jim Knowles deserves any blame

Knowles is a veteran defensive coordinator and former college head coach who won a national championship with Ohio State two years ago. His credentials speak for themselves. I can’t imagine he would knowingly tell his new boss to strongly pursue a high-risk player at a very high cost.

VolQuest’s Austin Price joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Tuesday and was asked about Knowles and whether he should shoulder any blame for the Coleman fiasco this offseason.

“I think that’s been the natural reaction,” said Price. “[Because] you have so many coaches that came from Penn State [and fans ask], ‘How could you not know this?’ That’s what everybody says. In talking to people, the kid was not like this at Penn State.

“Now, the only thing I can compartmentalize here is that he did not get to Penn State until the summer last year and went straight into football stuff. There was no offseason. And then, of course, he had the concussion last year late in the year. I don’t know where things went amiss for him. You wish him all the best, but you’ve gotta move on and figure out what Tennessee is going to be along the edge.”

People tend to forget that while everyone focuses on numbers and production, players are still human. And you just never know what someone else is going through or what choices they’ll make.

Tennessee’s had a few weird situations like this over the last couple of years (Boo Carter, Nico Iamaleava, etc). Not all of the blame falls on Josh Heupel and his staff, but if Tennessee is going to win a national championship they have to maximize their resources and make their portal additions (and retentions) count. It’s tough to predict the Volunteers will be as good as expected this fall without their $2 million-plus transfer addition on the field.