Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead is adding some key on-field experience to his off-field staff.

As first reported by Football Scoop, former SMU defensive coordinator Van Malone appears to be joining the Bulldogs staff as a senior defensive analyst. After playing safety at Texas from 1990-93, Malone played four seasons in the NFL with the Detroit Lions. In 1999, Malone entered the coaching ranks as a high school assistant coach. In 2003, he made the jump to college coaching joining North Dakota State’s staff as a wide receivers coach. Malone has some familiarity with one of MSU’s SEC West foes, as he coached defensive backs at Texas A&M from 2006-09. Most recently, he served as SMU’s defensive coordinator (2015-17).

As an analyst, Malone will not be an on-field coach during games, but his experience working on the staff of Arkansas coach Chad Morris the past three seasons at SMU should be helpful when the Bulldogs and Razorbacks meet in Week 12.