Greg Schiano is set to hire a new defensive line coach at Rutgers as his current assistant, Marquise Watson, will shift into an off-the-field role.

That report came from Pete Thamel of ESPN, who reported that the Scarlett Knights have targeted Kent State’s Colin Ferrell, who has been on the Kent State staff since 2012. He was the interim coach in 2017.

Ferrell was the outside linebackers coach in 2018 while the Flashes’ transitioned to a 3-4 defense.

Ferrell was promoted to a full-time assistant in 2016 after he spent 3 seasons as a defensive graduate assistant. In 2017, nose tackle Jon Cunningham claimed All-Mid-American Conference honors, while defensive end Matt Sommers was named to the Academic All-MAC Team. Kent State’s pass defense ranked third in the MAC.

After the February signing period of 2019, Ferrell was rated as one of the top 5 recruiters in the MAC by 247sports. He played an integral role in netting the 5th-best class in the conference for 2018 and the fourth best in 2019, according to his Kent State bio.

It is a homecoming of sorts as Ferrell is a native of Hamilton, N.J., and was an all-state defensive lineman at Steinert High School and was inducted into Steinert’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Before Kent State, Ferrell spent 4 seasons as a high school coach, including 3 at The Hun School of Princeton in New Jersey.