After a stint as an assistant coach for Tennessee football and then a promotion to outside linebackers coach for the 2025 season, the Vols did not retain key recruiter Levorn ‘Chop’ Harbin. This came after the hire of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who brought in his own LEOs coach, Andrew Jackson.
Now, Harbin is on to his next school. According to Matt Zenitz, Harbin is expected to be hired by Eli Drinkwitz’s Missouri program. He will be a defensive assistant coach with the Tigers, with his exact role not yet reported.
Harbin was responsible for coaching the LEOs this past season. That room featured Joshua Josephs, who is off to the NFL draft, and Jordan Ross and Caleb Herring, who are both transferring. He filled this role after Mike Ekeler left for Nebraska, opening up the position.
Even before he earned the title of the official position coach, Harbin was still heavily involved with the development of defensive linemen and edge rushers alongside Rodney Garner. Garner has been retained by Knowles.
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Now, Jackson will take over his responsibilities. He 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.
Before his time at West Virginia, Jackson spent one year as the defensive line coach at Old Dominion and one year as the defensive line coach at James Madison.
Jackson has earned a 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.
