'We can’t let it slip at all': OSU's Jim Knowles keeping intensity up while seeking improvement
Scott WrightOklahoman
STILLWATER — The chirping around the Boone Pickens Stadium team room starts before the graphic goes up on the video board.
Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is about to name his “Defender of the Day.”
Everyone who thinks they have a right to the honor will let the others know.
Up until that point in the day, Knowles has done most of the chirping — during practice. His intensity remains high as preseason camp gets going, because if he isn’t intense, how can he expect his players to be intense?
And if they’re not intense during practice, how can they expect to be better in games a month from now?
That’s the goal, of course. As good as the Cowboys were on defense last year, the bar is higher this season.
“That’s really on me,” Knowles said Sunday, entering his fourth season as OSU’s defensive coordinator. “I need to maintain that level of being demanding. I’ve always believed with players, you can be as demanding as you want if they know you care about them. Our guys have been with me long enough, they know I care about them.
“It’s up to me to push them in practice and run around and focus on all the little details… Those are the details that I’ve got to be tough on them about. I think they understand that, but we can’t let it slip at all.”
The defense is full of veterans, even at positions where a starter must be replaced. Sixth-year senior Devin Harper is stepping in for Amen Ogbongbemiga at middle linebacker, bringing plenty of experience to the position.
Christian Holmes, another sixth-year senior, is in the mix for the starting cornerback job vacated by Rodarius Williams.
And a few veterans will be in the rotation filling the void of Cameron Murray on the defensive line.
Knowles doesn’t want his defense to backslide or become complacent, because the room for growth looms large.
Last season, the Cowboys allowed 23.5 points per game. They’ve held offenses to a lower total only twice since 1996. They were one of the best teams in the country on third-down defense a year ago, but other statistical areas, like takeaways, left something to be desired.
Knowles is working this preseason to better implement the Cowboys’ zone pass coverages. After working mostly as a man-to-man coverage team the last couple seasons, Knowles wants to add some wrinkles that keep offenses out of sync.
“You’re always trying to find what guys do best, and then structure your defense,” Knowles said. “It’s not what I know, but what they know and what they do best. We’re gonna have a new corner out there. We’ve been known to play a lot of man. We’ve made adjustments as I’ve learned more about the Big 12 to go to more zone.
“You want to have more tools. As we grow the system — here it’s year four for me, and we’re gonna have in 80, 85% of what I like to do. That started at 20% the first year. It went to maybe 40% the second year. Last year, we were up to two-thirds of the system was in, and this year we can increase it. Part of that means playing more zone, so teams can’t dial in on us.”
Knowles, through focusing on little things and rewarding cumulative efforts with engaging methods like “Defender of the Day,” is keeping his defense’s intensity and focus on point. And that, as he sees it, is how the defense will get better.
“This is a new year, a new day,” said Jarrick Bernard-Converse, a fourth-year starter in the secondary. “You gotta keep working and keep building on the progress. It’s always a work in progress, so it’s never over. You can’t get too complacent, because that’s when you get relaxed and get lazy.”
Added Harper: “Most of us look at it as a chip on our shoulder. You still gotta work for it if you want to get there again this year. And we look at it as motivation, like, we can do that, we can do it again and we can do it better. We’ve all been here before, and that’s the job we’re looking to do. We should fulfill that.”
