Senior Night emotional for Hog commit Koilan Jackson and parents

Friday was Senior Night at Joe T. Robinson and for receiver Koilan Jackson and his parents, Keith and Melanie Jackson, it was an emotional time.

“Yeah, just a little bit knowing it’s my last regular season home game,” Koilan Jackson said. “I’ve been doing this for four years and I see that’s finally coming to an end and just noticing that, it’s crazy. It just got me a little bit.”

The Arkansas commitment and his fellow seniors were introduced prior to the game with their parents. He had an unusual request of his father.

“It was the last night and he’s over there cracking jokes and he goes, ‘Hey, I feel like I’m stiff will you come to the locker room and stretch me,’” Keith Jackson said. “I was like, ‘No, let one of the coaches stretch you.' But you know when you really think about it, this is the last home game and I said, ‘Ok, I’ll meet you in the locker room.'”

Keith Jackson was an All-American tight end at Oklahoma and played nine seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles. He cherished the chance to walk with Koilan during the pregame ceremony. He’s proud of the son he and his wife raised.

“Not only is he a good kid when you think about being on the football field, but he’s great academically, he does the right things,” Keith Jackson said. “He’s just a good young man and you start thinking as you’re walking, ‘You know what? He was a headache, he got on my nerves and at times I wanted to choke him. But we raised a good kid.’”

Once the game began, Koilan Jackson, 6-3, 210, 4.52 seconds in the 40-yard dash, shined and was responsible for the first score of the game when he caught a 52-yard reception for a touchdown. He led the Senators to a 42-7 victory over Ashdown and Hog safety commitment Montaric Brown.

The pass play that led to Koilan Jackson’s touchdown reception is called “Raider” in the huddle.

“I was just really excited it was the first touchdown,” Koilan Jackson said. “It set the game up for a good pace.”

Koilan Jackson and Brown were lined up against one another in the second half.

“That was real cool,” Koilan Jackson said. “I’m pretty sure that’s what everybody wanted to see though. It is what it is, it’s competition. We’ll be doing that for the next four years.”

He was impressed with Brown’s ability.

“He’s nice, he’s nice,” Koilan Jackson said. “He’ll come down and hit you too. I knew he was ball hawk because I saw his film. He’s real. It’s going to be real cool to be up there at Arkansas with him next year.”

An Iowa State coach recently visited the school and paid a compliment to Jackson while talking to Robinson assistant Brian Maupin.

“He was talking to Coach Maupin and he said, ‘If he wouldn’t have committed, he would probably have 30 offers right now.’”