TJ Jackson came to WVU knowing he had one year of eligibility remaining. One year later, Jackson has learned and grown throughout his year as a Mountaineer.
Last offseason, when Jackson decided to come to WVU, not many could have predicted the type of production he would have had in his only year as a Mountaineer.
Jackson has 33.0 total tackles, 12.0 TFLs, and 5.5 sacks this season.
“I’ll say being in this level, I'll say I learned more about myself, about how I need to take care of my body more, get more recovery, because playing at the level of the Sun Belt, you really don't go against offensive linemen that's as big as they are now, and you really don't think about the wear and tear on your body as much as you would if you play in a Power Four conference,” Jackson said.
Jackson spent the last four seasons at Troy, and when he entered the portal, he was able to learn more about his game and how to continue to improve, especially on the mental side of his game.
“Same way I study offensive linemen, they're going to study me, and, you know, with some of my passers moves, they then, a couple of guys then got a hint on that, and I credit Jaysen Thompson, and Coach Randy on giving me more moves so I could work, and, you know, I'm very grateful for those guys,” Jackson said.
Jackson has treated the game of football similar to a chess match, learning about the opponent and trying to think ahead during his matchup against opposing offensive linemen.
“You want to set them up like, all right, I'm going to rush high here. I'm going to rush high here for like three-four plays get them to overset. And he oversets, I'm going to take him under. So it's really a chess game. You know, like how they say it's chess. It's like playing chess with play calling. It's like playing chess with the offensive lineman. You got to give him one move right here for like three-four plays. Then you give him the counter off that move and see if he bites on that,” Jackson said.
Jackson started out the season with the hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff. Ten games later, sitting at 5-5, Jackson’s expectations were not met, but he used this experience as a tool to help him learn about perspective.
“You know, you can't really go into life looking back into the past, you got to look more, be more into the present. Coach Brown showed us this video all week, last week, smart guys live in the present, older people live in the past, and younger people live in the future.
“And I kind of took heart on that because you really want to live in the present on times like that, because you don't really want to be like, dang, I wish I had this back, you know, five years down the road. Be like, dang, I wish I could have done that, I wish I could have done this or that," Jackson said.
Jackson’s collegiate football journey will end with him walking onto Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium this weekend, being one of the many seniors honored for WVU.
“It hasn't really hit me yet. I guess it might hit me once I'm out there on the field with my family and we're going through the whole little ceremony deal. I don't really try to look into it until it's actually there because I know once it is there, it's gonna be a real emotional moment for me,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s family has been able to support him this season, seeing his parents and even his daughter in the stands. For him, that’s what he said he would take away from this season, more than anything on the field, is the ability to feel like a kid again.
“it really means a lot because, you know, just having, like, that thought of, you know, having my mom in the stands, my dad in the stands, even sometimes my daughter. It's just having that extra chip on my shoulder, even though I already have that chip on my shoulder, it's just like, you're a little kid, look in the stands, see your mom, see your parents still there. I still get that same little effect when I see them in the stands every Saturday,” Jackson said.
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