Jackson added to West Virginia football staff as defensive assistant
West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown has announced that Andrew Jackson will join the Mountaineer coaching staff as an assistant coach on the defensive side.
Brown will announce staff assignments at a later time. "I would like to welcome Andrew to the Mountaineer Football family," Brown said.
"He comes highly recommended and brings good defensive experience with him. He already has recruiting experience in areas within our footprint and has a track record for being an outstanding teacher."
Jackson comes to Morgantown after serving as the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator for defense at Old Dominion for the past year.
"Coach Brown is building a strong, family-oriented program at West Virginia, and I am excited to become a part of its upward climb," Jackson said. "The program has a rich tradition and history and the fan base is very passionate. I have a lot of respect for the people in this state, and I am excited to work with the players and coaches. I can't wait to get started."
Jackson joined the Old Dominion staff after spending the 2019 season at James Madison as the defensive tackles coach. While at JMU, the Dukes led the FCS in total defense and was third in scoring defense. Defensive tackle Mike Greene led the Colonial Athletic Association in sacks by an interior lineman and earned all-conference honors.
Jackson was the defensive quality control coach at Mississippi State in 2018, where he helped the Bulldogs to an 8-5 record and berth in the Outback Bowl. MSU ranked in the top 10 nationally in eight defensive categories, including a No. 1 national ranking in total defense (263.1). Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat earned All-Southeastern Conference honors.
In 2017, Jackson coached the defensive line at Fordham. He was responsible for game planning the run game, pass protection and third-down blitz packages and prepared the opponent scouting report for the defense. Prior to that, Jackson was a graduate assistant with the defensive line for two years at Penn State. He completed all opponent and self-scout defensive breakdowns and coached the scout team. Two players he worked with earned national attention, All-American Carl Nassib and consensus All-American 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.
Jackson spent two years as an assistant coach at Stony Brook, first as a graduate assistant and then as assistant defensive line coach. One of his players, Aaron Thompson went on to rank among the top 10 nationally in sacks and earn All-CAA First Team honors. Jackson started his coaching career at LIU Post as a graduate assistant.
Jackson was a three-year captain and three-year starter for LIU Post. He was an All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Second Team honoree as a senior after recording five sacks and 12 tackles for loss for the Pioneers. He was a member of the National Football Foundation's Hampshire Honor Society and was awarded two of the athletics department's most prestigious honors, the Christine Webb Award and the Roy Illowit Award.
Jackson earned his bachelor's degree in physical education science and coaching from Long Island University in 2011 and three master's degrees, one in Interdisciplinary studies from Long Island in 2012, liberal arts and science from Stony Brook in 2014 and educational leadership from Penn State in 2017.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
•Like us on Facebook
