Drake Jackson, left, has the high football IQ that UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen thinks will help him play in the NFL. (UK Athletics Photo)
Drake Jackson had already impressed NFL personnel with his toughness before his Pro Day workout at UK last week. He did that at the Senior Bowl when he continued to play despite a grade-one shoulder sprain.
“You really want to take advantage of that opportunity, so even though I hurt my shoulder, you gotta fight through it and play through it,” Jackson said. “Because you were given that opportunity, you got to make something of it.”
Jackson, a three-year starter at center for Kentucky, is projected as a mid to late-round draft pick in the NFL draft later this month.
New UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen compared Jackson recently to former NFL center John Sullivan, an 11-year NFL veteran. Sullivan was a sixth-round draft pick who finished his career with the L.A. Rams — the team Coen was with before coming to UK.
“The type of conversations that Sully and (head coach) Sean (McVay) would have would just go over a lot of people’s heads,” Coen said. “Drake has that level of understanding about the game.
“He’s obviously done this at a high level for a number of years and I can only foresee him continuing to do so. I do believe with the amount of things that are on centers in the NFL, especially maybe going somewhere where they don’t want too much on the quarterback or have a younger quarterback that they don’t want to put some of those things on, I do think Drake would be a great fit in some of those systems.”
Jackson was the quarterback of UK’s offensive line the last three years and made all the pre-snap calls for that unit. He hopes his football IQ helps and was noticed as the Senior Bowl.
“You could see the guys who had a high IQ and the guys who didn’t,” Jackson said.
After a superb high school career at Woodford County, Jackson was a coveted in-state recruit but had to prove at 6-2 that he could survive against bigger SEC defenders … and he did. He’s facing the same questions as he prepares to start his NFL career.
“I think once you lose that chip (on your shoulder) you stop getting better and you’ve kind of lost your love of the game,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to find something that motivates you and that absolutely motivates me. That’s something (former UK line) coach (John) Schlarman taught us.”
