LITTLE ROCK — Todd Eskola paused before delivering the biggest line of the day. Clearly, the veteran Joe T. Robinson football head coach knew he was about to give a show-stopping quote.
“I’ve been coaching 22 years and I’ve never said this out loud,” Eskola said. “I would project Koilan Jackson to play at the next level.”
The next level isn’t the SEC, in this reference. It’s the NFL.
Eskola made that projection after coaching Jackson for just one season, and at a new position.
Jackson transferred to Joe T. Robinson last winter in hopes of making the move to wide receiver after playing quarterback at Little Rock Parkview. It was an instant hit, just as Jackson was with his new classmates and teammates. Arkansas didn’t wait for a game at wide receiver, extending an offer in the spring. Jackson committed soon afterward.
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“He was a perfect fit,” said David Porter, the defensive end from Robinson who also is headed to Arkansas. “He clicked with all of us.
“We all knew Koilan from Parkview. We all knew him from around the community. He’s well liked by everyone. But he’s become about my best friend.
“We also knew what he was about on his last team. He was about the only good athlete they had. He stood out. And we knew he would be a difference maker for us.
“It was the instant he stepped on the field for practices, then it was obvious in his first game. He’d go up with two defenders, he’d catch it and they would both end up on the ground. He’d walk into the end zone.
“Man, he’s the truth — just as advertised.”
Porter radiated as he talked about his friend. His smile was matched only by Jackson’s.
“They are good kids and they are going to be smiling a lot,” Eskola said. “You saw them the way they are, always got that big smile.”
It’s a little more than just the smile with Jackson. It’s heart.
“That’s Koilan,” said Keith Jackson Sr., Koilan’s famous father with the College Football Hall of Fame plaque and Super Bowl ring. “He’s the one of my kids we say has a lot of love for everyone else.”
It was only appropriate that Keith Jackson put a heart on Koilan’s pendant when he came up with a unique Christmas present for the family this year.
Dad had four pendants made that when put together formed the state of Arkansas. And, yes, the southeast corner that is Koilan’s pendant has a heart next to the big “J” that is prominent on all four.
“They are pretty cool,” Koilan said of the four pendants. “I didn’t know my dad was that creative.”
Dad is sort of proud of the way it turned out.
“There is a cloth that I gave (wife) Melanie,” Keith Jackson said. “Then, there is (a pendant) for Keith Jr., Kenyon and Koilan, and one for me. Mine has a cross to represent our faith, so important in our family. Keith Jr. has a tree, because family is so important for him. He’s got a family now. And Kenyon’s has a football. He’s the grinder of the bunch, always trying to improve his football.
"I put 'Genus Aviem Est Totum' on the back of each one. That's Latin for, 'Family is everything.'"
They take the pendants off to lay on the cloth when at home. The gap between them forms a cross with Jackson written across.
“I do think it turned out pretty good,” Keith Jackson said. “They were expensive, but anything done right is going to be like that. I didn’t care. The boys don’t take them off.”
No, said, Koilan, “The only time you do that is when we are at home to lay on the cloth.”
Dad said that won’t happen again until spring break.
“We’ll be together then,” Keith Sr. said. “But really, we are always together. That’s the point. I wanted to emphasize what we have as a family.”
The love is there with all of them, but dad said it’s more obvious with Koilan.
“He’s the one who is going to kiss a baby,” Keith Sr. said. “He shows his love. You get it pretty quickly if you are around him.”
The other thing you get quickly is his physical presence, especially the hands.
“He’s got massive hands, doesn’t he?” Eskola said. “You shake his hand, it swallows yours.”
Yes, it does. That came up as Jackson and Porter walked with a reporter walked across campus from the field house to the gym.
“Both of us wear gloves size 3XL,” Jackson said. “I wear size 14 shoes. David wears size 15 shoes. We think we are still going to grow a little bit.”
Porter, who stands 6-4, thinks there might be another couple of inches of growth left. His father is a little over 6-8.
“I’m not sure I’m going to get much taller,” Koilan said. “I might be a full 6-3 when I’m done, but I think I’m going to add a few more pounds.”
Koilan was listed at 6-3, 212 on the UA’s signing day release.
“I’m a few pounds more than that now,” he said. “But not much. I might play at 220.”
And he may play soon. The Hogs lost five senior wide receivers. Head coach Bret Bielema thinks Jackson could help in the fall.
“When you put his film on compared to other wide receivers across the country that are five stars and all this stuff, he is good as they are if not better,” Bielema said. “He has got a special chance. He is big, athletic, intelligent and obviously that it is a great environment that he has been raised in.”
Bielema called Koilan Jackson the sleeper of the class, but it’s not like he was ignored by all of the recruiting services. ESPN had him rated as a 4-star prospect.
If Jackson had played wide receiver throughout his high school career, perhaps the others would have given him more than three stars. But he looked like a stud at Robinson.
“Big, long, physical and fast,” Eskola said. “And he’s got those great, huge hands. He’s a special player. I know that’s a bunch of cliches. But it’s 100-percent true.
“On top of that, he’s just a great kid. God blessed him with unbelievable talent.”
Porter may have known about Jackson before the transfer to Robinson, but Eskola claims he didn’t.
“Yes, I knew of his father,” Eskola said. “But I didn’t really follow Koilan (at Parkview), and I didn’t know he was coming to us.
“I got a call when his mom brought him the first day. They called from the office and said, ‘Coach, we have a new kid who wants to play football.’ That was a good day for us.
“It was clear the first day we worked out that he was incredible. He’s 6-3, 200 and could fly. And the work ethic was great. He didn’t say much. He said he was there to work. He did.
“We’ve got a bunch of good players. We are going through a good cycle right now and you could see he was having fun out there with the rest of our kids.”
Jackson plays with a physical nature that will serve him well at the next level. He likes to block.
“And he’ll go over the middle,” Eskola said. “The player he reminds me of who you saw in the SEC was Laquan Treadwell at Ole Miss. It’s a good comparison.
“He’s going to take on defenders. We would motion him across the formation, then throw to Nathan Paige, our junior receiver. Koilan would lead the way.
“Koilan is so physical. And those are the biggest hands I’ve ever seen. He caught it in traffic, with contact coming. He’d use his body for position. He really is smart and knows the game.”
There were games early when defenses didn’t game plan for him, but that changed quickly.
“They’d play two to his side,” Eskola said. “But early, they didn’t. We figured out pretty quickly we could go to him over the top and he would make the play. Our quarterback knew he could throw it up for him and he’d go get it.”
Eskola knew he had a top college recruit early on.
“We have had some before,” he said. “We had Nate Garner, Gary Anderson and some others in a good cycle a few years back. They played in the NFL.
“I do understand the rating system a little bit. The more offers you get, the higher you go. So when Koilan committed so early in the process, that hurt him. And he was a solid commitment. We got calls from the top schools, but I told them what he said — it was over.”
Jackson was clocked at 4.52 in the 40-yard dash at a Dallas combine. Soon after, Arkansas extended the offer, without seeing him play wide receiver in a game.
“That was a laser time,” Eskola said. “When that number got to Arkansas, they pulled the trigger.”
Jackson recalled the call from Bielema.
“I was on my way to track practice, right here,” Koilan said, stopping at the gate to the football stadium and track. “I took the call. That was a good day. I went out and ran my fastest 400-meter time. I was pretty excited.”
The excitement is still there.
“I believe I can play early,” he said. “I can, as long as I learn the offense and grow mentally and physically, and be the best that I can be. I think I’m still getting stronger and bigger. I’m just 17. I won’t be 18 until the Texas A&M game next year.”
The goal is to play as a true freshman.
“My dad played as a true freshman, Keith Jr. played as a true freshman and Kenyon played last year at Illinois as a true freshman,” he said. “I want to do it, too. It’s a large goal.”
There are thoughts that Jackson may be a lot faster than a laser 4.52 now.
“I think so,” he said. “That’s a long time ago. And, it was right when I first started to play wide receiver. I’ve done a lot of running since then. I’m still learning to open up my stride.
“You do a lot more running when you are at wide receiver than quarterback. You run every play. Quarterback, they just turn and hand off and watch a lot of times.
“Quarterback was fun. I liked having the ball in my hands, but I know I’m a wide receiver.”
This past season marked the first time he didn’t play for his father. Keith Sr. was a volunteer coach at Parkview, running the offense for Koilan’s junior season.
“He was the offensive coordinator,” Koilan said. “He got to be just be Dad last year. I will say that he still watched some tape with me last year. I think that’s now over. He gets to just be full-time Dad now. You could slowly see him relax about everything regarding football.”
Eskola said Keith Sr. never mentioned anything about football last season.
“Just great family,” Eskola said. “He was here, but I never heard him. I know the faculty remarks about what kind of parents Koilan came from.”
Stacy Smith, Koilan’s favorite teacher, didn’t know Keith Sr. other than as Koilan’s father.
“Yes, I’d heard him do radio,” said Smith, Koilan’s English teacher. “And I got to meet him for parent-teacher conferences. But he just introduced himself as Koilan’s dad. I didn’t realize who he was at first.
“I told them they have a great son. He’s respectful and the other kids like him. Koilan was very popular in my class and a very good student. His papers were good.”