STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – D’Anton Lynn returned to Penn State this year looking to pair his passion for the Nittany Lions program with his experience coaching defenses at the college and professional levels.
Penn State’s defensive coordinator was a three-time all-Big Ten honorable mention cornerback for the Nittany Lions from 2008-11. While wearing the blue and white, he had 162 total tackles, seven stops for loss, four interceptions and one fumble recovery in 47 games, while starting 37.
“How much he cares about Penn State is inspiring,” sophomore defensive end Yvan Kemajou said.
Lynn is a native of Celina, Texas, and the son of longtime NFL assistant Anthony Lynn – the running game coordinator and running backs coach for the Washington Commanders.
D’Anton Lynn played one season with the New York Jets (2012) as an undrafted free agent, and one season in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2013).
Before returning to Penn State, Lynn was defensive coordinator at UCLA (2023) and Southern California (2024-25).
West Coast defense
In 2025, Southern California ranked second in the Big Ten in red-zone defense and was 13th nationally, and finished third in the conference in third-down conversion defense.
In 2024, Lynn helped the Southern California defense improve from 106th in the country in third-down stops to 21st, when the Trojans were second in the Big Ten.
That 2024 Southern California team held opponents to 24.1 points per game, 10 fewer than the Trojans allowed in 2023.
In one season at UCLA, Lynn took the defense from 87th in the nation to No. 10.
He had previously coached defensive backs for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens (2021-22) and Houston Texans in (2018-20).
Lynn credited his effectiveness and development as a coach to “just being around ball.”
Lynn said: “I worked with my dad as a kid. When I was a player (at Penn State) and with other teams, being around good coaches. I’ve been fortunate to work with very good coaches.”
‘He’s a mad scientist’First-year Penn State defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe was on the UCLA staff with Lynn, and said he sees the influence of many mentors in Lynn’s approach.
“He’s a mad scientist,” Malloe said. “He really dissects film. When I go home, he’s still there.
“He was my only connection here. When he offered me the chance, I leaped at it.”
First-year coach Matt Campbell said luring Lynn back to University Park was a big moment in his offseason work to build his coaching staff. Campbell called Lynn “a great communicator and teacher.”
“When you watch him with our players, the ability to invest in the players, not just as the teacher of the scheme,” Campbell said, “but then also sitting down, pulling a young man into his office, wrapping his arms around the young man, having a real relationship with our players.
“All those things have mattered to me. That’s what I thought I was hiring, and it certainly is exactly what I’ve witnessed over the last seven, eight months.”
‘What our guys do best’Lynn is Penn State’s fourth defensive coordinator in as many years. He follows Manny Diaz, now head coach at Duke; Tom Allen, DC at Clemson; and Jim Knowles, DC at Tennessee.
Lynn said he is building a defense based on his players – including returning standouts Daryus Dixson, Zion Tracy and Audavion Collins in the secondary and Tony Rojas, back from a knee injury, at linebacker.
Strong safety Marcus Neal (Iowa State), linebacker Kooper Ebel (Iowa State) and tackles Keanu Williams (Oregon/UCLA) and Armstrong Nnodim (Oklahoma State) were among many potential starters who transferred to Penn State.
The Nittany Lions had the 31st-ranked defense in the country in 2025 after having the No. 8 defense in 2024.
“I’ll try to take advantage of what our guys do best, and create a complementary package off of that,” Lynn said. “From a football standpoint, pretty much all of the concepts will be installed by Week 1.”
He said: “From a player standpoint, it all starts with trust. Be honest with the guys, and then as they start to learn the defense, the same thing, you start taking input from the players. At some point in time, they need to take the keys to the system. It needs to be theirs and you need to let them feel that it’s theirs.”
That trust was starting to emerge as camp began.
Defensive end Ikenna Ezeogu called Lynn “a very sharp individual. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s been a Penn State player. He’s been in the NFL. I listen very closely when he talks.”