James Franklin, who had been in hot pursuit of a big-name defensive coordinator to replace Tom Allen, plucked Jim Knowles from national champion Ohio State. If Knowles isn’t the top DC in the nation, he is on the short list.

Penn State just made DC Jim Knowles the highest-paid coordinator in college football. With him now on the staff, James Franklin has no excuses left not to win a title.

"Jim Knowles to Penn State is one of the biggest coaching portal moves in recent history," Breneman tweeted. "An enormous W for James Franklin and PSU. They just stole the #1 DC i