Dennious Jackson (X Photo)
He’s a 6-5, 335-pound muscular defensive lineman who considers himself a “run-stuffer” but Dennious Jackson had to help promote himself with college coaches.
He had scholarship offers from several schools when he made a social media post of himself in the gym to let coaches know he was still available.
“That post went a little viral and (Kentucky assistant) coach (Chris) Collins saw it, hit me up and took it from there,” said Jackson, a Georgia native who played two years of junior college football at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, CA.
A few days later, he got his first Southeastern Conference scholarship offer from UK defensive coordinator Brad White and defensive line coach Anwar Stewart on June 12. He didn’t get to make an official visit to Kentucky but announced on social media Monday that he was UK-bound.
“Two years ago I was struggling with a poor outlook on the future. But thanks to the support of people like my mother and coach Otis Yelverton, I persevered. I lived through many hardships but yet I made it through,” he posted on X. “This is the beginning of a new chapter of my life, and it wouldn’t be possible without those who gave me the confidence to move forward, and for that, I am forever grateful. It is because of these people I will be attending the University of Kentucky.”
Jackson said there was no need for him to make a visit before committing to UK. He had watched Kentucky games on TV growing up in Georgia and said “the school speaks for itself” when UK offered.
“I do not have to see it to believe it. Some schools I would have had to visit but you know about Kentucky,” he said. “I got some FBS attention and looks from schools in California but I didn’t have the caliber of offers I wanted. I was fine with what I had. I was content. I felt blessed to get any opportunity to continue my education but Kentucky is just special.”
Jackson has two years of eligibility remaining and provides depth with Josaih Hayes out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon in spring practice. He also adds experience that first- and second-year UK defensive linemen do not have.
“I’m a southern boy. There’s nothing like SEC football. It’s like a religion down here and I can’t wait to be part of Kentucky football,” Jackson, who will report to UK later this month after he finishes his summer semester, said. “Hearing from Kentucky was a big surprise but I followed Kentucky growing up and I am so excited about coming to Kentucky.”
2 Responses
Another impressive job by UK recruiting. Stoops has put together a staff who get the job done, starting with Marrow in the beginning of the Stoops era. The DC, DL coach & others have all done very well.
Now UK needs to raise the level of success in the win column to parlay the recruiting success into even better recruiting to continue the cycle of better recruiting —> more wins —> bettet recruiting —> SEC Title —> Playoffs —> The 1st UK National Title !!!
This is behemoth of a man. He is going to clog the line up. Perfect for a 3 man front. I watched some tape and he’s a very hard hitter, he throws his weight at the offensive line and he pushes 2 of them back. With better training and a better weight room he’s going to be even bigger. I hope Hayes comes back another year. I thought he was going to have a phenomenal year. We are not far behind even the league elites this year. I’m telling you this year is our year. All the stars are going to align and we will get at least 10 regular season wins. 6-2 in the SEC and domination like you’ve never probably seen at Kentucky. This will be the team to take us to new heights and places we’ve never been. Stoops is very good at being secretive about everything. This might even be his last year at Kentucky. If we just so happen to get to the playoff or close I think he gets a big time offer from a big time school and I think he’s also proved himself worthy. Look what he’s done at Kentucky, people can say 7-6 and 7-6 buuuut if you look at the scores over the last 5 years we’ve only been beaten badly 3 times. I seen a stat that said we’ve lost to ole miss 3 times by a combined 7 points and that’s really how our luck has been. Levis second year his whole body was banged up. If we could have kept him upright and he didn’t get injured we could have easily won 9 or 10 games. Last year that fake punt or field goal by Missouri when we were absolutely destroying them in every phase of the game popped our balloon. We had them stopped it was 4th down I believe we were up 2 touchdowns and for some strange reason it was over after that. This was a Missouri team who had a great season. We fell apart against Missouri and its like the season was over except for Vandy and Louisville. Its funny because Louisville fell apart after they lost to us as well. I don’t know about the SEC Championship but I think we could squeeze into the playoffs. Fingers crossed.