Andrew Jackson - Football Coach - University of Tennessee Athletics

Andrew Jackson

Title:
LEOs

Andrew Jackson joins Tennessee's defensive staff as the LEOs position coach in 2026. He was officially named to Jim Knowles' staff on Jan. 2.

Jackson owns 13 years of defensive line coaching experience. He spent the 2025 campaign with Knowles as the assistant defensive line coach at Penn State. He was previously the defensive line coach at West Virginia for four seasons from 2021-24 where he was instrumental in developing one of the top units in the Big 12.

In 2023, Jackson’s defensive line spearheaded a group that ranked first in the Big 12 and 19th in Power Five in sacks (33). The defense produced 84 tackles for loss (6.5 per game), ranking second in the Big 12 and tied 14th among Power 5 schools. The defensive line was responsible for 16 sacks and 37 tackles for loss.

From 2021-22, Jackson mentored Dante Stills, who was invited to the 2023 NFL Combine and then selected in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Stills finished as the school’s all-time leader in games played (59) and tackles for loss (52.5), and he was fourth in sacks (23.5). He finished his career earning All-Big 12 Conference First Team honors twice (2021, ’22) under Jackson.

Jackson also coached the defensive line at Old Dominion (2020) and Fordham (2017). He was the defensive tackles coach at James Madison in 2019 when they led the FCS in total defense and ranked third in scoring defense. Jackson was a defensive analyst at Mississippi State in 2018 when the Bulldogs led the nation in total defense (263.1) and were ignited by future NFL defensive line stars Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat.

Prior to that, Jackson was a graduate assistant with the defensive line for two years at Penn State. Two players he worked with earned All-America status in Carl Nassib and consensus Anthony Zettel. Nassib was the Big Ten’s Bronko Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year and was the Hendricks Award and Lombardi Award winner. The 2016 Nittany Lions defeated No. 6 Wisconsin to win the Big Ten and advance to the Rose Bowl. Defensive tackle Austin Johnson was then selected in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans.