Versatile Rockcastle County senior Isaiah Jackson has been a Kentucky fan and quickly flipped his commitment to UK when offered by coach Will Stein. (Kierra Larkey Photo)
Isaiah Jackson knows he’s not a high profile recruit or even a well known name in Kentucky but he’s confident that he can help the University of Kentucky football team.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Rockcastle County standout ran for 1,171 yards and 14 touchdowns his senior season and had 14 receptions for 302 yards and six scores. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdown. On defense, he had 44 tackles, including seven tackles for loss and two forced fumbles, while playing cornerback and linebacker.
However, his best position is receiver — “He will be a better receiver in college. We had to play him at running back to win games and he understood that,” said Rockcastle coach Chris Larkey — and that’s how he first impressed former Louisville recruiting director Pete Nochta at a summer camp.
Jackson originally committed to Louisville but flipped to Kentucky after new coach Will Stein arrived.
“I am sure Pete Nochta told them about me,” Jackson said. “I was going to stick with Louisville but coach Larkey said I should at least visit Kentucky. I took it and liked the culture. I liked talking to coach Stein and the new offensive coordinator (Joe Sloan) and receiver coach Joe Price who broke down film with me. I knew then I was going to flip.
“It motivates me that the old (Kentucky) staff did not even look at me and I still don’t know why. I feel like I was very under recruited but now people will see what I have really got when I get to Kentucky.”
He might only be a three-star prospect but so was his cousin, Eric Ebron. He played tight end at North Carolina and had 112 catches of 1,805 yards and eight scores in three years before leaving for the NFL. He was picked in the first round by the Detroit Lions in the 2014 draft. He also played for Indianapolis and Pittsburgh Ebron finished his NFL career with 351 catches for 3,837 yards and 33 scores in 106 games.
“I went to North Carolina and Detroit Lions games when I was younger and have always wanted to do what he did. My grandpa showed him how to play football and showed me too,” Jackson said. “That has always been my dream. I talked to him some and he gave me good tips but I never wanted help. I wanted to prove I could do this myself.”
He grew up in Rhode Island but got to Rockcastle County in the sixth grade as a foster child. He will be a walk-on at UK because he gets free in-state tuition.
“There was not as much diversity here as I was used to in Rhode Island but it was not terrible. My foster family helped me a lot but I was still the one who had to put the work in and I did,” he said.
He’s only the third Division I football signee from Rockcastle and the first two, Jason Leger and Brad Durham, also played at Kentucky.
“Brad Durham was also committed to Louisville and then flipped to Kentucky,” Jackson said. “I’ve always been a Kentucky fan and most everybody here is too. They love Kentucky here.”
Larkey said Jackson had a “great relationship” with the Louisville coaches but liked the idea of playing at places like Alabama, Georgia and LSU.
“He also liked the idea that everybody would be starting with a clean slate with new coaches and coaches would not already have opinions about who should play,” the Rockcastle coach said. “It also helps that his sister goes to Kentucky and it is closer to home.”
Larkey is confident Jackson can find a contributing role at UK.
“He is a better player than people know. Sometimes stats in high school do not equate to what you will do in college,” Larkey said. “He was a super defensive player and will flat hit you.
“I told him he could have a five-year plan where he is redshirted , then the second year be on scout team and redshirt sophomore year be on scout team going against guys 22,23 or 24 years old but also get maybe 10 plays on special teams. As a junior play special teams and maybe 10 to 15 plays on offense or defense. Then senior year stay on special teams and get 20 to 30 plays a game. Then even if he does not make it to the NFL somebody will hire him and pay him $100,000 to start off with because he’s a UK player.”
Jackson understands the logic in Larkey’s plan but has a different plan.
“I am an athlete. I want to start as a freshman. Anybody wants to do that,” Jackson said. “I want to go to the NFL in three years. If I do what I am supposed to do to get better every day, I know that is possible.”
2 Responses
You can't have something planned out for 5 years. You have to say I'm going to be on the field playing in 2-3 years. If you work hard enough anything is possible. He's a 3* recruit not a walk on no star recruit. If he works his butt off this kid can achieve anything. I've always been a fan of starting at a smaller school. I think your first year in college you should go to the best college that will make you bigger faster and stronger. As a redshirt freshman you should know were you are in the pecking order. If you feel like your not gonna play transfer to a Western Kentucky and play as a redshirt freshman at receiver. Light up the stat column. Then bigger schools will start calling. You can then decide to stay for another year and improve on your numbers where even more schools will be calling. Then you will be a redshirt junior with 2 seasons to go to a big school and probably start at receiver. But there is no way I'm sitting the bench for 4 years. It's not worth it when you have talent.
Terry Wren, you just laid out a 5-year plan.
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