Georgia head coach Kirby Smart lost his outside linebackers coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe to the Dallas Cowboys on February 3. Uzo-Diribe had been on Smart’s staff since 2022. Smart then had the task of finding a replacement to coach the pass rushers in Athens.
That role appears to have been filled by Larry Knight. He spent the 2025 season as Arkansas State’s defensive line coach and run game coordinator before being hired in January as West Virginia’s pass rush specialist. After his short time at WVU, Georgia is reportedly hiring Knight as the Bulldogs’ new outside linebackers coach.
Knight never actually coached for West Virginia, as he was hired by them in January.
Dawg Central’s Graham Coffey reported the news on Monday.
“NEWS: Source tells me that Georgia has hired WVU Edges/Pass Rush Specialist coach Larry Knight as it’s new OLB coach. Knight was hired by WVU in January after being DE coach/Run D Coordinator at Arkansas State in 2025. His defense was 1st in Sun Belt with 39 sacks last year,” Coffey reported.
The Arkansas State Red Wolves were No. 94 in run defense in 2025, allowing 168.4 rushing yards a game. However, if you split their yards allowed vs Power 4 schools and non-Power 4 schools, you get a different picture. Against P5 schools, they allowed 254 rushing yards per game, and against non-P5 schools, they allowed 158.9 rushing yards per game.
Looking at the Red Wolves’ pass rush shows a bigger positive, though. They ranked No. 9 in the FBS with 39 sacks in 2025. They only tallied 2 sacks vs P5 schools, but totaled 37 vs non-P5 schools.
Knight also had stops at Temple (2023-24), Georgia Tech (2019-22), Georgia State (2015-16), Tennessee (2013-14), and Cincinnati (2011-12).
