'79 Dodge Truck Clutch/Tranny issue

This morning my truck was working just fine. No problems with the clutch or anything. No irregular noises. An intern was driving it and his foot slipped off the clutch, stalling the vehicle as he was trying to go in reverse. When he started it and tried again, he could put it in gear, but then when he started releasing the clutch (in any gear) it makes this horrible knocking noise. It doesn’t make that knocking noise when I release the clutch in neutral, which leads me to believe it’s a transmission problem not a clutch problem. Any ideas what the problem might be?