Northwestern's coaching staff is whole again after the Wildcats filled their third and final vacancy by reportedly hiring South Dakota State's Christian Smith to be their new defensive line coach.

John Brice of FootballScoop.com was the first to report that Smith would be leaving FCS champion South Dakota State, where he held the same position, to join Pat Fitzgerald's staff for 2023.

Smith was the defensive line coach at SDSU for the past six years, moving from working with the defensive tackles to the whole D-line in 2019. Before he joined the Jackrabbits in 2016, Smith was a grad assistant for Matt Campbell at Iowa State and a grad assistant at his alma mater, Toledo, in 2015.

Smith was a three-year starter at Toledo where he racked up 89 tackles and 14 tackles for loss. Smith was named captain his senior season and finished with 40 tackles, three forced fumbles and a pair of sacks in his fourth straight winning season for the Rockets.

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Although they were split on offense and defense, Smith crossed paths with one of his new coworkers several times: running backs coach Lou Ayeni. Smith and Ayeni worked on the same coaching staff at Iowa State in 2016, and Ayeni was the running backs coach at Toledo when Smith played defensive line for the Rockets.

Ayeni won't be the only familiar face for Smith. He is less than a month departed from coaching on the sideline across from new Northwestern defensive coordinator David Braun, who was coaching North Dakota State in the FCS national championship game. Smith and the Jackrabbits secured bragging rights over Braun with a 45-21 victory, capping a 14-1 season with the program's first national title.

Smith helped coach a Jackrabbit defense that was one of the best in the nation. They ranked first in the nation in defending the run, second in yards allowed behind only Deion Sanders' Jackson State, and third in points allowed.

With the hiring of Smith, Northwestern has filled all three of its coaching vacancies from the FCS ranks. In addition to Braun and Smith, new wide receivers coach Armon Binns comes to Evanston from Youngstown State.