Jim Knowles is bringing a Penn State defensive staffer with him to Knoxville. Tennessee is hiring Andrew Jackson as the school’s new LEO coach, the program announced Friday. The LEO position is effective the outside linebacker spot on Tennessee’s defense
Jackson replaces Levorn “Chop” Harbin as Tennessee’s outside linebackers coach. It’s unclear whether Harbin will remain on staff in a different role or not. Harbin spent the first four years of the Josh Heupel tenure as a defensive analyst before being promoted to outside linebackers coach ahead of the 2025 season.
Jackson was an assistant defensive line coach for the Nittany Lions last season and spent the four seasons before that as the defensive line coach at West Virginia. The New York native landed at Penn State after West Virginia fired head coach Neal Brown and replaced him with Rich Rodriguez.
During his final year at West Virginia, the Mountaineers ranked first in the Big 12 with 33 sacks and second in the Big 12 with 84 tackles for loss. West Virginia’s defensive line was responsible for 16 of those sacks and 33 of the tackles for loss.
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Before his time at West Virginia, Jackson spent one year as the defensive line coach Old Dominion and one year as the defensive line coach at James Madison.
Jackson’s earned the reputation as a strong recruiter but his task there will be much more significant at Tennessee. He does have some minimal experience in the SEC, serving as a defensive quality control assistant coach at Mississippi State in 2018.
The new LEO coach is one of four new assists on the defensive side of the ball along with defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Pondexter and cornerbacks coach Michael Hunter.
Josh Heupel is retaining defensive line coach Rodney Garner and inside linebackers coach William Inge.
