Just a few days after the Ohio State Buckeyes won the College Football Playoff national championship, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles accepted a new DC position with the Big Ten-rival Penn State Nittany Lions.

Here are three potential options who could fill the Ohio State Buckeyes' defensive coordinator vacancy in 2025.

Jim Knowles’ first press conference as Penn State’s defensive coordinator is in the books, PSU fans. It was a very, very interesting half hour or so with Knowles on Tuesday. James Franklin paid big money to bring Ohio State’s former DC to State College. Expectations for the Lions’ 2025 team, and especially its defense, could not be higher.