Florida State Hires New Defensive Line Coach Away From Nebraska

The Seminoles are making another change to their coaching staff.

Nebraska Athletics

Now that the 2024 season is complete, Florida State is moving quickly to finalize its new coaching staff under Mike Norvell. The Seminoles have already reportedly come to agreements with Gus Malzahn and Tony White to fill the open coordinator jobs in Tallahassee.

On Wednesday, FSU made another addition to the coaching staff. The Seminoles are hiring Nebraska defensive line coach Terrance Knighton in the same role, the news was first reported by Noles247. Knighton has served on Matt Rhule's staff in Lincoln for the past two years.

Knighton is a well-regarded up-and-comer on the coaching scene. At just 38 years old, he's able to connect with players and recruits through his personal experience in the sport. Knighton starred at Temple from 2005-08 and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He spent seven years at the professional level with the Jaguars, Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins (now Commanders), and New England Patriots.

The Connecticut native helped guide the Broncos to an appearance in Super Bowl XLVIII. He appeared in 108 games, with 96 starts during his career in the NFL. Knighton totaled 230 tackles, 34 tackles for loss, 14 sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 11 pass deflections, and two interceptions.

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Knighton has been credited with landing ten recruits during his time at Nebraska. That number includes five blue-chip prospects with four of those where Knighton was regarded as the primary recruiter.

Nebraska ranks No. 20 in points allowed per game (19.8), No. 19 in total yards allowed per game (315.4), and No. 14 in rushing yards allowed per game (105.8) in 2024. Knighton's defensive line totaled 17 sacks and 37 tackles for loss this season. The Cornhuskers were top-15 in all three metrics last year as the program produced its best defensive season since joining the Big Ten in 2011.

Knighton began his coaching career as the defensive line coach at Wagner in 2019. After two years, he was hired as the assistant defensive line coach by the Carolina Panthers when Rhule was the head coach of the franchise. After Rhule's dismissal, Knighton followed him to Nebraska.

It's unclear what this means for the future of longtime defensive line coach Odell Haggins, who has been with the program in various roles since 1994. Haggins was the first official hiring to Norvell's staff in December of 2019.

Knighton is in the final year of a two-year contract that pays him $400,000 annually.

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