Rodriguez Names Knight as Edges/Pass Rush Specialist

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University football coach Rich Rodriguez announced that Larry Knight has been hired as the edges/pass rush specialist on the Mountaineer Football coaching staff.

"Larry has done an outstanding job of building defensive lines and developing pass rushers who can bring pressure off the edge," Rodriguez said. "His ability as a lead recruiter at several of his stops brings our program another experienced recruiter. I want to welcome him and his wife, Marquita, to the WVU Football Family."

Knight comes to West Virginia after serving as the defensive ends coach and run game coordinator at Arkansas State for the past year. He helped lead the Red Wolves to seven wins, including a second-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference Western Division.

The Red Wolves registered 39 sacks for the year, tying for No. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference in total sacks and tying for No. 6 nationally for average sacks per game (3.00). Last year, ASU had a season-best nine sacks against Troy, tying for the best single-game mark in the nation.

Arkansas State boasted having three of the top seven sack leaders in the conference and all four starting defensive linemen earned a spot on one of the Sun Belt Conference All-League teams. The Red Wolves finished No. 4 in the league in tackles for loss and No. 30 nationally and were No. 4 in the league in scoring defense, bettering their mark from the previous year by eight spots.

Knight worked as the defensive line Bill Walsh Minority Internship during the 2025 spring with the Green Bay Packers after spending the 2023 and 2024 seasons as the defensive line coach at Temple.

His coaching career also included stints at Georgia Tech as the defensive line and defensive recruiting coordinator (2019-22), Temple (2017-19) as the outside linebackers coach and defensive recruiting coordinator (2018-19) and the defensive line quality control and assistant director of player personnel for the defense (2017) and outside linebackers coach at Georgia State (2015-16).

While at Georgia Tech, Knight helped the Yellow Jackets sign the second highest recruiting class in program's history, ranking top 25 (2020) and secure the highest rated defensive line recruiting class (2021). He also helped coach and develop several All-Atlantic Coast Conference honorees, a Bronko Nagurski winner and three NFL Draft selections.

He also spent time as a defensive line intern with the Atlanta Falcons (2015), a defensive graduate assistant and defensive quality control coach at Tennessee (2013-15) and a defensive line graduate assistant at Cincinnati (2011-12).

A native of Augusta Georgia, Knight earned his bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship and marketing from Central Michigan in 2010. He was a four-year letterwinner, a Mid-American Conference all-league performer at defensive end in 2009 and helped lead the Chippewas to three conference titles.

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