The Buffalo Bills will have a former Penn State defensive back roaming the sidelines this upcoming season, as new head coach Rex Ryan hired Nittany Lion D’Anton Lynn as a defensive assistant.

Lynn follows Ryan from New York, where Ryan signed Lynn as an undrafted free agent in 2012 after an impressive four-year career at Penn State. Lynn was part of Joe Paterno’s 2008 recruiting class that included former standouts like defensive end Jack Crawford, offensive lineman Matt Stankiewitch, and linebacker Michael Mauti.

While at Penn State, Lynn was a valuable member of the Nittany Lions’ secondary unit. After spending his freshman season playing in a reserve role, Lynn won the starting cornerback job opposite Knowledge Timmons, garnering All-Big Ten honors after positing 35 tackles, three and a half for a loss, one half sack, and five pass breakups. Lynn was an integral part of Penn State’s top-10 defensive unit that helped the team finish the regular season ranked No. 8 in the country, while capturing the Capital One Bowl over No. 17 LSU.

Lynn’s junior season was his best statistically as a Nittany Lion. In 2010, he started every game at cornerback, finishing with 75 tackles — good for second on the team — while posting a fumble recovery, seven pass breakups, and a career high three interceptions. Lynn’s numbers dipped during his senior campaign, but he was still able to put up 49 tackles, one interception, with a career high nine pass deflections.

Lynn joined a slew of standout cornerback prospects in the 2012 NFL Draft, one that included the likes of current Bill Stephon Gilmore, Alabama’s Dre Kirkpatrick, and former Cornhusker star Alfonzo Dennard. Lynn was projected to go between rounds three and four, but likely fell into free agency after bombing his 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, running a 4.77 — slow for cornerback standards.

After spending his rookie season in New York, Lynn fell victim to preseason roster cuts prior to the start of the 2013 regular season. He tried his luck in the CFL, signing on with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in May of 2013. That dream was short lived however, as Lynn was released a month later.

Lynn joins his father, Anthony Lynn, in Buffalo, after spending the 2012 season with him in New York. While D’Anton was a rookie, the elder Lynn served as the team’s running back’s coach. Anthony will assume the same position in Buffalo, where he gets the opportunity to coach veterans Fred Jackson and Bryce Brown.

Hopefully for Buffalo, the father-son duo can produce on field success for a Bills team searching for its first playoff berth in 15 years.