Some guys burst on to the scene with hype and sudden fame, and some guys do a patient grind, emerging without anyone really noticing. Brian Jackson, 5-10, 205-lb. senior safety, is one of those grind guys.
Captain Crunch: Brian Jackson stays crispy even in milk, shown here undressing an Arizona receiver over the middle with a clean, legal hit, a textbook tackle (Mark Yien, Albany Democrat/Herald photo).
Secondary coach John Neal told ai.com reporter Doug Grabarczyk, “About this time last year and right before we went into spring ball, Brian just took over, and he’s one of these kids that just going to be undeniable because he’s so competitive and he’s so tough. When you find a kid like that they eventually start to play for you.”
Jackson emerged as a spokesman and a leader for the Ducks. He had 69 tackles last season, starting in every game, including 10 tackles and an interception in the Civil War, 8 tackles against Stanford, California and USC, 6 tackles and a sack against Arizona State, 9 tackles and three pass breakups against Fresno State.
That’s a lot of productivity. But ask most fans to name the Oregon starters in the secondary without Google or goducks, and Brian Jackson would be the name they might forget. Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and Terrance Mitchell are the flashy cornerbacks, Thorpe Watch List guys, preseason All-League picks and the like. Avery Patterson had the two pick sixes. Erick Dargan had 8 tackles and two interceptions in the Fiesta Bowl.
Jackson just quietly does his work. He’s the janitor and night watchman in the secondary, a crunching tackler who has built his game through film study, hard work, and dedication in the weight room. He’s smart. He has completed one degree and is working on his second. A serious student, in and out of football, he stays connected to family in his hometown of Hoover, Alabama through telephone and text with his younger brother via Xbox headset.
The senior safety was relatively unheralded coming out of high school. Auburn and Alabama passed on him. Rivals rated him the 85th best safety in the nation, despite a whopping 161 tackles in his senior year at Hoover High School, on a team that went 13-2 and made it all the way to the 6A State Championship game. Brian added three interceptions and was named first team all-state. This in a state where high school football comes directly after Jesus, the Crimson Tide and the Tigers, in the religious pantheon.
At Oregon, he redshirted and labored on special teams in his first three years. He told Grabarczyk, “I just remember there were a lot of times that I would wake up and find out that I wasn’t playing on that Saturday, and then the next thing you know that year has gone by so fast then you’re getting ready to play that next Saturday and then that year goes by and the next thing you know you’re practicing to get ready to play the whole game on Saturday. So it just went by so fast that I can’t get over it, really.”
By his junior year he’d earned a starting spot, starting every game. He took over as the leader and enforcer in the secondary when John Boyett was lost for the year after game one. Jackson recovered fumbles against Washington and Washington State. He cleaned up the messes, broke up seven passes, and became the third leading tackler on the team.
Jackson emerged as a captain and spokesman on the team last winter when Chip Kelly left for the NFL. He, Hroniss Grasu and Marcus Mariota met with the media, Jackson telling reporter Aaron Fentress of the Oregonian, “He believed that he was going to leave us in good condition. Basically coach Kelly did a great job with how he helped us prosper, how we grew. The way that we are now as a team, he knows that it’s pretty much a player-run organization. And he said that it’s what really keeps this program going. And I fully believe him on that. And…myself and a couple of other teammates, I’m sure they all agree that we can keep this thing rolling even without him.”
That same morning Jackson, Grasu and Mariota led the team through a workout, 7-on-7 and stretching. Then he spent an hour in the weight room. Business as usual.
He’s grown so much as a player that he has a realistic opportunity to catch on in professional ball after his Duck career is over. He’ll also have the two college degrees to fall back on when he’s done with football. Nfldraftscout.com ranks Brian 9th out of 128 senior safeties. #12 more than doubled his production as a junior, and with the knowledge and experience he’s gained and the way he applies himself, he may jump it up again as a senior. Mature, steady, veteran presence only begins to describe him. It’d be a mistake to underestimate him as an athlete: he’s powerfully built through the shoulders, with a top time of 4.57 in the 40.
“Stepping into my new role and trying to make a name for myself, I really like the way things have turned out,” Jackson told Grabarcyzk. “A lot of people here have been great friends to me, and just the whole process of me trying to mature and get older, and now that I’ve been here for a while and it being my senior year I find myself as a leader on this team, making sure that everybody is getting into the right situations and picking up the other DBs and getting them ready for when I’m gone.”
He’s built an incredible legacy, part of a class that won 46 games and two BCS bowls with a season to play, maybe even play for the top prize in college football.
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