Is Knowles bringing anyone with him?
- Thread starter Ward Hog
- Start date
There are some rumors that he had a falling out with LJ Sr. Day really talked up their safeties coach at the Natty celebration yesterday and people think he's gonna get a promotion; Matt Guerrieri.
Larry Johnson is 73 so it is hard to imagine he'd be given the defense in total. But he does carry the title of "assistant head coach/DL coach". Laurenitis is another option as he is LB coach.
I certainly would hope that his pedigree and reputation would enable us to bring in some missing pieces to complete this defense; i.e., another tackle, a middle linebacker, and a defensive back or two.
While Coach Knowles was at OSU, these were his top recruits as documented by TOS. They are all LB's.
Riley Pettijohn, Garret Stover, Arvell Reese, Payton Pierce, Eli Lee.
Pettijohn is rated a 5* and 18th ranked recruit in the country in the Rivals database. The other 4 were all rated as 4* recruits.
If he can influence new recruits to sign, great. However, I'm more concerned about whether his presence can influence quality portal players to sign on for 2025, because this team definitely has a legitimate chance not only to equal what they did last season, but surpass it.
I know one thing: St Joes Prep just went from off limits to in play with a bullet, overnight.
Understanding that we have not done well historically recruiting from St. Joe's Prep but we actually did get 1 recruit, Cam Smith, during the last recruiting cycle.
DT Maxwell Roy DT was a recruit from St. Joe's that OSU got this past recruiting cycle.
We're all obviously very interested in seeing how our newly hired DC affects our defensive recruiting and approach on the football field.
Don't his defenses play like Manny's defenses in that the cornerbacks are left on islands, which requires great cornerbacks? I do think that Manny blitzed more than Knowles, but I could be mistaken.
There is a post already by a former St Joes player out there regarding Knowles. It's very very VERY encouraging
WR Coach, Hartline is supposedly looking for an appartment in Nittany Commons.........
If that's happening Columbus will burn to the ground 😂
Correct.
He blitzes very heavily and relies on 1-on-1 man DB coverage. Much like Don Brown at Michigan. Resulted in some huge plays given up on defense against Michigan and Georgia in 2022, but also had lots of positives if the corners were able to lock their guys down. We got absolutely torched by Oregon in Eugene in October with that, but made adjustments after the game to blitz with the LBs and safeties less often and instead rely on DL stunts. Once we started getting pressure with just the front 4 (with the occasional LB blitz), everything came together. We blitzed the DBs far less often second half of our season.
Thanks. When you have the defensive line talent that OSU almost always has, you really shouldn't need to blitz a lot. Ideally, you'd like the front four to be able create havoc in the backfield so that there are more players to cover receivers and create fewer windows for passes.
Totally correct. Our DL was terrible in getting pressure until midway through this past season. that was the single biggest weakness in this team -- DL not getting home, which would inevitably allow WRs to eventually get open.
In a perfect world, Knowles uses his DL to set contain and brings all kinds of disguised blitzes (and the Jack position) to create the pressure. It's fantastic when you have the DBs to hold up in coverage, and OSU should have that. Problem is, Larry Johnson doesn't use his DL that way......he's all about hand-in-the-dirt edge rushing and interior stunts. Frankly, Day mismanaged that feud and didn't really empower Knowles fully. He eventually gave LJ the green light to run his DL the way he wanted, and Knowles had enough.
All that to say....the fact that Knowles did that well given those circumstances was pretty great.
TOS insiders continue to insist that Downs is going to be in play when the next portal opens. These guys are the ones who broke the Knowles hire, and they came out from the paywall to do it. These are actual insiders. Unfortunately they say PSU remains a long shot for Downs, but a punchers chance for Tate.
They say as many as 3.buck receivers are gone, but only Tate as the first unit. They do say that one of those receivers other than Tate is one of their possible starters this fall and that one is very much in play for us. Defensively they mentioned three names, but Downs as the biggest name.
They remained steadfast that Chip is long gone like yesterdays biscuits and gravy. Texans and/or the Bills in the bidding war.
You can say whatever you want but these three insiders are basically stone cold locks for many years now.
They say as many as 3.buck receivers are gone, but only Tate as the first unit. They do say that one of those receivers other than Tate is one of their possible starters this fall and that one is very much in play for us. Defensively they mentioned three names, but Downs as the biggest name.
They remained steadfast that Chip is long gone like yesterdays biscuits and gravy. Texans and/or the Bills in the bidding war.
You can say whatever you want but these three insiders are basically stone cold locks for many years now.
247 or on3?
Over at 247, there is a poster who's had a ton of info. I'm assuming this is who you are talking about...? LJHeisman...
LJ is one, Morrisdale is another, the third one I can't quite recall. Those are the ones I am referring to, yes...
As far as On 3, I stopped looking at that board when Bob Daman took it over with his stupid jokes.
So the big question for PSU's defensive team: where is the comparable DT & LBer talent/depth to run that system?
I think OSU NIL collective(s) would bid very high to keep Downs in Columbus.
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Oh man, this is great. You're talking about this LJ4Heisman guy, right? The Buckeye sites are loving this. He's literally taking nuggets that are already available on Eleven Warriors and other sites (Kelly interviewing with the NFL, LJ thinking about retirement.....AGAIN), and adding random stuff to keep people like you engaged. It's amazing to watch how people will believe this stuff.
Carnell Tate leaving for Penn State is probably our favorite rumor. That dude got huge offers from Oregon and Texas and turned them down. He's a rabid Hartline disciple. there is 0% chance he leaves for Penn State. He's poised for a 1,000+ yard season next year and a 1st or 2nd round NFL draft selection. LOL.
Downs? LOL. Why stop there? Why not Jeremiah Smith? I mean, they're both making $5mil+ at Ohio State, but clearly they want out.
Good luck with your Carnell Tate and Caleb Downs quest.
While in these cases you are probably right but didn't you guys say similar things about Knowles.
True, although there were Knowles to OU rumblings as far back as December. The Knowles-LJ feud wasn't new......in fact many of us expected the feud to drive LJ to retire last year (which was the hot offseason rumor). LJ stayed, all his senior DL came back, but the rupture was never fixed.
The Knowles thing was a surprise but him leaving wasn't really shocking. The real surprise was PSU vs. OU as the destination.
Carnell Tate and Downs and those guys have no such push factor driving them out. Just the opposite. The Tate stuff in particular is hilarious considering he just went very public a week ago shutting down transfer offers and reaffirming that he's coming back. He and Hartline are very, very close -- particularly after Tate's mother was shot and killed.
Downs just signed a massive NIL deal, and he's probably the richest defensive player in college football (and very close with DB coach Tim Walton and safety coach Matt Guerrieri).
On LJ I think you guys kept the wrong guy. Seriously how much longer can he hang in there. But when he does retire, please keep him in Ohio.
Relative to the OU PS battle for Knowles it seems the conventional wisdom around here was OU for several reasons the girlfriend not being the least of them. But money and coaching autonomy 1 girlfriends 0
We are not at OSU's level in recruiting just yet and most certainly not in the three deep like OSU but it seems our Alumni are finally stepping up in that department so we're getting there. We will see how that goes in the next class Had we had our WO's situation cleaned up we would have been playing you guys for the Natty. Oh, the things that could have been.
Hope springs eternal and this spring will bring a new optimism for us as it does every spring.
You said the same thing about JK. A whole bunch of you. Pages and pages of threads with laughing emojis regarding the possibility of JK to Penn State.
Just saying.
Curious if the recent news of the Athletic program losing $38 MM this past year effects anything ? I know NIL is not related..but wonder when the academics leaders start making a stink of all the $$ being thrown around..while losing money ? Again..just curious...
Oh, I suppose them building all those recent building on campus that are not fully used makes a difference? They should cut out the on campus and satellite campuses socialism. Start by dumping those satellite campuses and stop the expansionist policies on the main campus. Sports are the face of the university without that attraction they would still be a Cow College.
Are you talking about PSU or tOSU? I believe the post you were responding to was referring to tOSU.
On LJ I think you guys kept the wrong guy. Seriously how much longer can he hang in there. But when he does retire, please keep him in Ohio.
Relative to the OU PS battle for Knowles it seems the conventional wisdom around here was OU for several reasons the girlfriend not being the least of them. But money and coaching autonomy 1 girlfriends 0
We are not at OSU's level in recruiting just yet and most certainly not in the three deep like OSU but it seems our Alumni are finally stepping up in that department so we're getting there. We will see how that goes in the next class Had we had our WO's situation cleaned up we would have been playing you guys for the Natty. Oh, the things that could have been.
Hope springs eternal and this spring will bring a new optimism for us as it does every spring.
Optimism is never a bad thing, and you all have lots of reasons to be optimistic. I've been high on PSU's program for awhile, and you're definitely a top-3 team next year (I think Texas is #1). I personally have to see Franklin win a big game before I pencil him in as a natty favorite, because he'll need to win a bunch of them consecutively. But PSU fans should be very excited about the fall.
Neither Carnell Tate nor Caleb Downs will be wearing the blue and white, though.
Whatever "insiders" are reporting that probably need to learn Carnell Tate's personal story, for one. With his family tragedy and the way Hartline and Day have virtually adopted him, he's not going anywhere -- ask Oregon. Downs would probably cost you about $10 million, and even then, his interview today with the Columbus Dispatch has put all OSU fans at ease (not that anybody honestly thought he was leaning away anyway).Anyway, it's all good fun. And November 1st should be a battle as always.
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