On3’s Chris Low reported recently that new Tennessee Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is expected to make a couple of defensive coaching staff hires.

Knowles, who was previously the defensive coordinator at Penn State and Ohio State, was officially announced as Tennessee’s new defensive coordinator last week.

“I think one of the things that was appealing to Jim to come here is that he’s going to get [to make] a couple of hires,” said Low on WNML’s Josh and Swain. “He’s been told he’s going to get a couple of hires….I’ve told you guys for a couple of weeks that there were going to be changes on Heupel’s staff. And I felt confident in that all along. And I don’t think this changes with Tim Banks leaving and Jim coming in. I think there will be more. And I think that was a part of the whole deal. I don’t blame any coordinator, when you go into a situation, to want to have the latitude to bring in a couple of your guys. It just makes sense.”

Chris Low names a coach who could be a candidate to join Jim Knowles’ defensive staff at Tennessee

On Sunday, during Rocky Top Insider’s The RTI Low-Down, Low mentioned Anthony Poindexter as a name that could land on Tennessee’s coaching staff.

Poindexter, a former safety for the Virginia Cavaliers, worked alongside Knowles last season at Penn State.

“Jim was told he’ll have a couple of hires,” said Low. “So I think you’re going to see some more changes on that defensive staff. I mean, Anthony Poindexter is a guy who coached in the back end at Penn State, [he coached] safeties. He was a great football player at Virginia. I think he’s a guy that you may see, at some point, pop up on UT’s staff.”

Poindexter served as the Nittany Lions’ co-defensive coordinator and coached safeties last season.

Before Knowles was hired by Penn State, Poindexter was actually in line to become the program’s new defensive coordinator. But when it became known that Knowles was interested in joining the Nittany Lions’ staff, Poindexter was completely on board.

“Me and (Penn State head coach James Franklin) was in conversation the whole time,” said Poindexter last spring. “When we had a chance to go get Coach Knowles, I was like ‘Coach, we gotta go get him and make our program better.’ He had the No. 1 defense in the country a year ago. Great [defensive] coordinator. I actually have known him down through the years. I was excited for it.”

Safety play is extremely important in Knowles’ defense, so bringing Poindexter along could provide some coaching continuity for Knowles at Tennessee.

“Anthony Poindexter talks about it all the time: If you make a mistake at safety, it’ll cost you seven points,” said then Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin while discussing Penn State’s defense in October. “And if you’re making mistakes at linebacker, and you can’t run the defense, then it’s hard to execute.”

Ohio State safeties coach/pass game coordinator Matt Guerrieri, who previously worked with Knowes at Duke, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State, could be another option to join Knowles’ staff in Knoxville.

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