Coming off an Orange Bowl appearance and Big Ten title runners-up season, Penn State is still adjusting to fix the defense that former defensive coordinator Tom Allen was building.

In a Super Bowl Sunday news dump, West Virginia defensive line coach Andrew Jackson is transitioning to State College as a defensive analyst under coordinator Jim Knowles and alongside coach James Franklin.

CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz first reported the news during an already busy off-season following Ohio State’s national title win and Knowles’s departure from Columbus to State College after three seasons as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator.

“Was West Virginia’s defensive line coach the last four years,” Zenitz tweeted. “Helped WVU rank No. 1 in the Big 12 in sacks in 2023 and helped Dante Stills finish as WVU’s all-time leader with 52.5 career tackles for loss.”

This change may end up being a good thing for Jackson. He previously served as a graduate assistant at Penn State from 2015-2016 on its defensive line before bouncing between four different schools in various capacities over the next five seasons, including Fordham, Mississippi State, James Madison and Old Dominion before arriving at West Virginia before the 2021 season.

Having ties to the Big Ten and knowing how to lead defenses to success will only benefit Knowles, who has triple the amount of coaching experience.

Whether the reunion works out is unclear, but Jackson is taking an upward role rather than going backward as he’ll enter his 12th season in the coaching ranks this fall.