Three-time All-ACC linebacker Nick Jackson after graduating from Virginia in May, will head to Iowa to play his final college season in the Big Ten.
Jackson led Virginia in 2022 with 104 tackles on 626 snaps, adding four QB hurries, five sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss and four pass breakups, and his 73.5 Pro Football Focus grade ranked third among members of the defensive unit who played 100 or more snaps in 2022.
Jackson had already announced last week that he wasn’t going to return to Virginia for his super senior season, so all we were waiting for was to find out where he was going to end up.
“To my teammates, coaches, staff, alumni, Charlottesville community, and fans, it has been an honor to represent UVA football,” Jackson wrote on Twitter. “I am forever in debt. Cville will always be home for me. I can’t thank you all enough for the past 4 years of support as I move on to the next chapter.”
Jackson had visited Iowa after checking in with Auburn, which is led now by new head coach Hugh Freeze, who took over there after a successful run at Liberty.
The departure of Jackson is a huge blow to Virginia, which earlier in the offseason lost cornerbacks Fentrell Cypress and Anthony Johnson, the top two rated defenders on the team in 2022.
Cypress is transferring to Florida State; Johnson is going to make a run at the 2023 NFL Draft.
Virginia landed two secondary guys from the transfer portal to go toward replacing Cypress and Johnson – Iowa State cornerback Tayvonn Kyle, an honorable-mention All-Big 12 guy in 2019 and 2020, and North Carolina safety Cam Kelly, a former four-star prep recruit who was a third-team All-ACC selection in 2021.
The linebacker room hasn’t seen any injection of talent from the portal as of yet, and for the moment, at least, following the departure of Jackson, it’s painfully thin there, with the guy in that position group with the most reps from 2022 being rising redshirt sophomore James Jackson, who was on the field for 509 snaps last season, recording 57 tackles, 10 QB pressures, including one sack, and a 58.9 PFF grade.
The rest of the room includes Hunter Stewart (79 snaps, 60.5 PFF grade in 2022), Stevie Bracey (28 snaps, 37.0 PFF grade in 2022), and Trey McDonald (six snaps, 47.1 PFF grade in 2022).
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Chris Graham
