Tennessee football expected to hire Penn State assistant Andrew Jackson, per report
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Tennessee football is expected to hire Penn State assistant coach Andrew Jackson on Jim Knowles‘ defensive staff, CBS Sports reported on Jan. 1.
Tennessee has not announced Jackson’s hiring. It usually does that only after a contract or memorandum of understanding is signed.
Jackson’s position is unknown, but his background suggests it will be in the defensive front seven.
In 2025, Jackson served as a defensive analyst and assistant defensive line coach at Penn State, where he worked under Knowles.
Jackson was the defensive line coach at Fordham (2017), Old Dominion (2020) and West Virginia (2021-24). He was a defensive quality control coach at Mississippi State (2018) and defensive tackles coach at James Madison (2019). And he was also a Penn State defensive line graduate assistant (2015-16).
Jackson worked under Knowles at Penn State in the 2025 season. In December, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel hired Knowles to replace fired defensive coordinator Tim Banks.
Tennessee currently has three position coaches in the front seven of the defense. Defensive line coach Rodney Garner’s contract expires Jan. 31, 2026, but he is expected to sign an extension. Outside linebackers/edge rushers coach Levorn “Chop” Harbin and linebacker coach William Inge each have a contract through January 2027.
But UT also has an extensive staff of analysts, so Jackson could fill a role there, as well.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Andrew Jackson: Tennessee football expected to hire Penn State assistant, per report
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