Thompson will work with the defensive backs in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Chargers are set to hire former Vanderbilt assistant Jimmy Thompson to work with the secondary, first reported by Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.
Thompson is a former Notre Dame linebacker who spent four seasons under former Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Clark Lea from 2015 to 2018. He did not see game action over his first three seasons, spending most of his time on the scout team, but appeared in three games as a senior with six tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss. He spent the 2019 season as an intern with Notre Dame, working with the linebackers and safeties, before heading to LSU for the 2020 season as a quality control assistant with the safeties.
With Lea now the head coach at Vanderbilt, Thompson has spent the past four seasons working with the Commodores’ nickelbacks, rising quickly through the coaching ranks and emerging as a potential defensive coordinator candidate at the collegiate level.
During the 2023 season, Thompson played a significant role in the development of Vanderbilt safety C.J. Taylor in the slot, helping him record 55 total tackles (29 solo), 7.5 tackles for loss, three pass breakups, three sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions. Taylor ranked third on the team in tackles despite missing three games because of injury and a one-week suspension.
In 2024, Thompson helped Randon Fontenette put together a breakout season at the star position. After transferring from TCU, Fontenette finished his sophomore season with 72 total tackles (41 solo), eight tackles for loss, eight pass breakups, 3.5 sacks and an interception returned for a touchdown. He finished third on the team in tackles, posted a team-high total in tackles for loss and tied for 10th in the SEC in pass breakups. In 2025, he finished with 52 total tackles (31 solo), six pass breakups and a forced fumble.
This move carries a familiar connection between newly hired defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary, former Chargers defensive coordinator and current Baltimore Ravens head coach Jesse Minter and Clark Lea.
O’Leary’s coaching career began through early ties to the Minter family, leading him to Notre Dame as a defensive analyst and graduate assistant before he was eventually promoted to safeties coach. At the time, Lea served as the Fighting Irish’s defensive coordinator. That connection later helped bring Minter to Vanderbilt under Lea.
When Jim Harbaugh hired Minter as the Chargers’ defensive coordinator in 2024 following a national championship run at Michigan, Minter brought O’Leary with him as safeties coach. Now leading the Chargers’ defense after a year as the defensive coordinator & safeties coach for Western Michigan, O’Leary appears to be leaning on those same Notre Dame and Vanderbilt ties as he fills out his coaching assistants.