Jim Knowles reveals Tennessee’s breakout safety heading into the season

Last season, how many times did a safety make a bad play or did the Vols give up a third-down conversion because of a missed tackle in the secondary? It felt like it happened every game, and Josh Heupel made it a priority to address that this offseason. Heupel fired Tim Banks and hired Jim Knowles, the gold standard for defensive minds in college football.

The game time of Tennessee vs Georgia Tech could not have been much worse for the Vols

The biggest thing with Jim Knowles and his philosophy is his use of safeties. He loves to mix coverages and alignments while using a three-safety look to keep offenses guessing. The problem? It was the fact that Tennessee lacked the personnel to properly run that scheme. Because of that, the Vols completely transformed the room by adding significant talent this offseason. Tennessee brought in Dejuan Lane from Penn State, Qua Moss from Kansas State, TJ Metcalf from Michigan, and DJ Burks from App State. The room was completely transformed, but Edrees Farooq, who started last year, stuck around and has provedhim self to be the best in the room according to Knowles.

"(Edrees) did not leave even though there was a transition. Even though there were new safeties coming in, Edrees stayed and competed and learned, and really came out of spring established himself as the top safety," said Knowles. "But I was impressed with what he did on the field and how he picked things up."

Jim Knowles said Edrees Farooq is the top safety

This is honestly a welcome surprise, but reports from spring ball did say that Farooq was performing very well and establishing himself as one of the top players in the group. This is a great sign because now the Vols can boost their depth if someone gets hurt, as one of the talented transfers will end up outside the normal rotation.

Farooq was by no means bad last season, but he was not a star either. He posted 76 tackles, three pass breakups, two interceptions, and a forced fumble. Pro Football Focus graded him as an average player, but the biggest issue was missed tackles. Farooq missed 21.1% of his tackle attempts last year, which is something he absolutely needs to clean up. The good news is he was solid in coverage, and if Knowles is singling him out as the top player in the room, that should carry a lot of weight.

If the safety room really takes a step forward, Tennessee’s defense could be very good next season. The Vols already have lockdown corners in Jermod McCoy and Kayin Lee, plus a deep linebacker room in the middle of the defense. Not to mention, under Rodney Garner, the defensive line is almost always reliable. I really like the trend this defense is going in.

Honestly, I’m really happy to hear Farooq is doing well. In a time where so many players immediately transfer out, he stayed at Tennessee and worked for his spot even with all the new additions coming in. You have to respect that, and hopefully he has a breakout year next fall.

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