SEC Powerhouse Officially Pries Key Assistant Larry Knight Away From West Virginia

Roughly 36 days, give or take. That's all the time that pass rush specialist Larry Knight spent as an assistant coach with the West Virginia Mountaineers. The man probably didn't even have enough time to get accustomed to making early morning trips to Tudor's Biscuit World or finish decorating his office inside the Milan Puskar Center before he packed his bags.

On Tuesday, it was officially announced by Georgia that Knight had been hired to be the Bulldogs' new outside linebackers coach.

"We are excited to add a coach and a man of Coach Knight's caliber to the staff," said Georgia head coach Kirby Smart in a press release. "He has produced on the field at all of his coaching stops and has also proven his worth as one of the best recruiters around. Coach Knight was a conference champion on the field when he played for Central Michigan, and I know he is ready to get to work in his home state."

Knight was officially hired by WVU on January 12th, with Rich Rodriguez saying, “Larry has done an outstanding job of building defensive lines and developing pass rushers who can bring pressure off the edge. His ability as a lead recruiter at several of his stops brings our program another experienced recruiter."

WVU hired him away from Arkansas State, where he helped lead the Red Wolves to the best pass rushing attack in the Sun Belt Conference. As a team, they totaled 39 sacks and averaged three sacks per game, which ranked sixth nationally among FBS teams.

Knight had also spent time at Tennessee, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Temple, and had brief stints with the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers.

With Jeff Casteel retiring again and his son, Jake, becoming the head coach at Glenville State, the Mountaineers don't have an in-house option that makes sense to replace Knight. I would fully expect another hire to be made in the coming weeks before the start of spring ball, unless Rich Rod can somehow talk Jeff Casteel to come back for one more season.

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