FSU football: 3 ways Terrance Knighton impacts defensive line at FSU

Familiarity With Tony White's Defense

When I think about Adam Fuller's defense, it was piece-milled, meaning coaches he had coached with were brought in, and they didn't have a real offseason to implement the defense before the 2020 season.

That meant they had to learn how each liked to coach, their tendencies, and build trust.

Knighton spending the last two years with Tony White is invaluable because he knows exactly how White wants to call his defense. He knows the expectations, and FSU will likely get a few players from Nebraska in the portal.

That means Knighton will have players as coaches on the field along with him and White to help whichever FSU players are on the roster for 2025 to accelerate the learning process. Knighton and White got to Nebraska at the same time in 2023 without having worked with one another before.

They took Nebraska from the No. 91 defense in 2022 to the No. 19 defense in 2023. They improved to No. 18 in 2024. The fact they've gone through the process together at a new place before and now have that familiarity? It should mean rapid improvement, especially since FSU will likely have more overall talent than the 2022 Nebraska team.