Penn State “Linebacker U” product Michael Mauti is working out with the Houston Texans after getting cut by the New Orleans Saints earlier this year.

The Texans are working out eight players, including the Nittany Lion, according to Houston Chronicle reporter Aaron Wilson. Houston is coached by Bill O’Brien, the coach of Penn State during Mauti’s final college season.

O’Brien mentioned during the summer that he wanted to sign Mauti after his former player went through workouts with the Texans in July.

The former first team All-Big Ten honoree spent four seasons on NFL rosters after getting drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Saints named him special teams captain for the 2016 season.

However, his career would be threatened by the effects of ulcerative colitis, a similar condition to Crohn’s that forced him to miss the last half of the 2016 slate.

The Saints resigned Mauti in July, but cut him just prior to the start of the 2017 season. Saints head coach Sean Payton said it was a difficult decision, but one he had to make.

“He’s got a tremendous amount of courage and heart. To go through what he had to go through this offseason, it obviously puts you behind when you’re not involved in a full offseason,” Payton told NOLA.com. “But when the summer finished up, he was able to kind of get back in the swing of things. I thought he played better probably towards the end of camp.”