Virginia football coach Tony Elliott struck out on another in-house recruiting priority, with three-time All-ACC linebacker Nick Jackson confirming on Sunday that he won’t be returning for the 2023 season.
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.
His 73.5 Pro Football Focus grade was third among members of the defensive unit who played 100 or more snaps in 2022.
Jackson announced his pending departure on social media.
“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.”
Elliott, talking with reporters last week, noted his hope that Jackson being enrolled at Virginia for the spring semester would give the UVA program a chance to retain him.
“You know, he was at the banquet, you know, he was voted a team captain,” said Elliott, adding that defensive coordinator John Rudzinski and linebackers coach Clint Sintim had been in regular contact with Jackson, who entered the transfer portal on Dec. 12.
Jackson reportedly visited Iowa over the weekend, and has already made a visit to Auburn, which is led now by new head coach Hugh Freeze, who took over there after a successful run at Liberty.
Wherever he ends up, Jackson, because he’s enrolled at Virginia for the spring semester, won’t be able to participate in spring practice at his new school, which will impact his integration into what would presume would be the new defensive scheme at this new school.
That complication, the result of Jackson not committing somewhere else before the start of the spring semester, was the reason for Elliott’s hopes that he might stay on for a fifth season at UVA.
As it stands, it’s another position group on the defensive side of the ball that loses its top guy – the secondary is losing cornerbacks Fentrell Cypress and Anthony Johnson, the top two rated defenders on the team in 2022 – that Elliott and Rudzinski will have to account for.
Speaking with reporters last week, Elliott said he feels good about the return of Josh Ahern, who will be a fifth-year player next fall, “because he had a decision, and he and he was, you know, probably leaning a little bit towards possibly moving on.”
Ahern, though, is no Jackson, not even close – Ahern had 24 tackles on 240 snaps in 2022, with a PFF grade at a most 56.1 that was a career-high.
The guy in the linebacker room returning with the most reps from 2022 is 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).
“Stevie Bracey, he’ll be a guy that’ll get reps, and Trey MacDonald as a second-year guy now will be a little bit older. I feel good just in terms of the depth that we have. They’re a little bit unproven, but we do have some leadership and some balance,” Elliott said. “And then we signed two first-year guys that will show up that I think, you know, could be college-ready, at least one of them, for sure, will be college-ready, to help push there.
“I feel good about where the depth is. We’ve just got to do a good job this spring of getting some of those younger guys ready to step into more significant roles. But overall, I feel good about that group,” Elliott said.
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Chris Graham
