Hog Futures

Earning respect not new to Jackson

Mansfield Legacy's Enoch Jackson (99) scores a touchdown during a game against Aledo during a high school playoff game Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017, in Bedford, Texas.

FAYETTEVILLE — Enoch Jackson revels in having to reprove himself.

In his first few months as a member of the Arkansas Razorbacks, the 6-0, 292-pound freshman defensive tackle is doing exactly that.

“It’s a real fun experience to be up here with a bunch of guys that want to have the same goals as you,” Jackson said. “Coming from high school where you were that guy, and then coming to college where you’re not that guy, you’re kind of at the bottom of the totem pole.

“You got to prove yourself and just show up every day and just work, and that’s what I really like about it. I like the whole process.”

University of Arkansas senior defensive tackle McTelvin Agim, who Jackson particularly admires for his ability to evade blocks, has voiced rave reviews of his younger counterpart.

Enoch Jackson At a Glance

CLASS Freshman

POSITION Defensive Tackle

HEIGHT/WEIGHT 6-0, 292 pounds

HOMETOWN Mansfield, Texas

HIGH SCHOOL Legacy High School

AGE 18 (born Dec. 12, 2000)

NOTEWORTHY Son of Enoch Sr. and Yasmin Jackson. … In seven games during his senior season, Jackson was in on 28 tackles, made 4 sacks and recovered 1 fumble. … In 15 games as a junior, Jackson made 52 tackles, registered 6 sacks and recovered 2 fumbles. … A wrist injury caused Jackson to miss four games in 2018. … He spent most of his youth in Stillwater, Okla. … Jackson was one of five players to be nominated for the Tom Landry Award, which is given to the top high school player (any division, any position, any school) from North Texas. … Plans to major in sports management.

“He’s been working his tail off. That’s what I love to see,” Agim said last month at SEC media days. “He’s very quick. He has good feet. You wouldn’t think he could move that fast, but he definitely does. I feel like he’s going to make a lot of plays.”

Jackson has had to reprove himself a couple of times before.

He did it during his freshman year at Stillwater (Okla.) High School, an inevitable transition to the next level. But then he had to do it again soon thereafter — this time as a junior at a different school in a different state.

Jackson and his family moved to Mansfield, Texas, midway through his high school career. His parents are originally from Fort Worth, which is less than 30 minutes northwest of Mansfield.

Jackson didn’t take long to turn heads at Mansfield, and the switch was beneficial for his football career.

Jackson was a standout in the trenches for Legacy, becoming a three-star prospect and the No. 37-ranked defensive tackle in the country, according to 247 Sports. He was named the district defensive MVP as a junior, after recording 6 sacks, 19 tackles for loss and 52 total tackles. As a senior, despite missing four games because of a broken right wrist, Jackson tallied 4 sacks, 8 tackles for loss, 28 total tackles and 2 forced fumbles.

“Enoch has a drive in him that you don’t see with many players,” Legacy Coach Chris Melson said. “His instinct plays a large part in what he does. This is a guy who’s going to play on Sundays. He gets great leverage and is totally underrated. … He’s disruptive at anything you try to do.”

Arkansas’ first-year defensive tackles coach, Kenny Ingram, has seen many of the same attributes on tape.

“If you look at him on film, he’s very explosive,” Ingram said. “He plays with a lot of energy, plays with a high motor. He’s very athletic.

“But even better than that, when you get to know him as a young man, he’s very pleasant to be around.”

Jackson, who also played basketball and did shotput in high school, developed close relationships at Legacy with two teammates, in particular Taurean Carter and Jalen Catalon. Both joined Jackson at Arkansas, creating a trio of players from the same high school in the Razorbacks’ 2019 recruiting class, something that’s rare in college football.

Jackson said he noticed something different about Carter and Catalon when he first got to know them at Legacy. The two revealed a noticeable swagger and confident attitude, according to Jackson.

That stuck with him, and it ended up having a residual effect. Jackson, who is quiet by nature, has tried to distill a similar demeanor.

“They walked around like they knew they had it,” Jackson said. “I knew I was good at sports, but I ain’t walked around like that. Whenever I met them, they just walked around like, yeah we [gonna] win state, yeah we got this, we like this. I’m like, who [are] y’all? I looked at their Hudl [highlight videos] and I’m like, they do got it. I was like, ‘We [gonna] do something special.’

“They changed my attitude and how I looked at myself, because I used to walk around with my head down and just do me.”

Jackson and Carter, who is a fellow defensive tackle, became a wrecking crew up front while at Legacy. It’s not often high school quarterbacks have to evade two SEC-caliber players from the same defensive line.

Said Carter: “I think [quarterbacks] were a little starstruck when they saw us. When we line up, you could just tell, he don’t want to say ‘hut,’ but he got to.”

Jackson and Carter signed with the Razorbacks during the early signing period Dec. 19, 2018. Catalon took more time with his decision, eventually picking Arkansas on national signing day less than two months later.

Jackson picked the Hogs over Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Missouri and others. He said he came to Arkansas because of what he described as a “family aspect” in Fayetteville, as well as the sincerity of the coaching staff.

“It just felt like home,” Jackson said. “Everything that they told me, it felt genuine, and they proved it. They didn’t just talk to me.

“Colleges tell you, oh yeah, you’re gonna start, just come up here. They’re trying to rush you into committing to their college. When I went to other colleges, I just didn’t feel the genuineness.

“I feel like [Arkansas was] telling me straight up everything I needed to hear, and the truth, even if I didn’t want to hear it.”

Now at “home,” Jackson wants to make his stay worthwhile and reprove himself again.

Democrat-Gazette staff writers Tim Cooper and Bob Holt contributed to this report.