LAWRENCE — It’s official, Kansas football co-defensive coordinator Jordan Peterson is moving on to a position on the coaching staff at Texas A&M.

The Aggies announced the news in a release Monday, with the Southeastern Conference program naming Peterson as its co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. The move brings Peterson back to a place he knows very well, considering he played in college at Texas A&M and also spent time there as a graduate assistant. And it means Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold doesn’t just have to replace one of his assistant coaches, but one of the team’s best recruiters.

“Family and I couldn't be more excited to be back in Aggieland!” Peterson posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Time to get to work!”

Peterson was working at Kansas prior to Leipold’s arrival in 2021, and after spending time in an off-field role early in Leipold’s tenure became one of the Jayhawks’ on-field assistants. He’s helped develop a group of defensive backs that includes a duo at cornerback, Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson, who will be in contention again to be All-Big 12 Conference caliber talents in 2024. With Peterson on staff, Kansas was also able to enjoy back-to-back bowl game appearances for the first time in more than a decade the past two seasons.

In Kansas’ 2024 recruiting class, Peterson also played a pivotal role in a talented trio from one high school in the state of Arizona all signing with the Jayhawks. Those three, linebacker Jon Jon Kamara, cornerback Dre Gibson and defensive end DJ Warner, include a talent in Warner who’s a 247Sports Composite four-star edge who’s a top 200 player in the nation in his class. All three have remained committed to the Jayhawks.

“I was in the same place at one point,” Carson Bruhn, a 2024 signee for KU at tight end, posted in part on X in response to a post from Warner. “Remember: 1 coach is not the reason you committed to (Kansas football)!! Stick it out and always trust God’s plan.”

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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football co-DC Jordan Peterson leaves for job at Texas A&M