Calls pour in for Rivals100 DB

Four-star Neptune Beach (Fla.) defensive back Kyle Jackson is in the midst of a busy week with the return of phone calls from college coaches and his season opener awaiting Friday night.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on this week,” said the Fletcher High School star, a member of the Rivals100 Team. “The phone’s been ringing almost constantly since Monday. I got my first call from Alabama at 10:30 that morning, and it’s been going pretty much since.”

In addition to the Crimson Tide, Jackson has heard from Florida State, Florida, Duke, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Iowa, South Carolina, North Carolina, LSU and Tennessee. One head coach made the personal call, the Commodores’ Bobby Johnson.

“Mostly it was just my recruiting coaches and position coaches,” he said. “There was no big news or anything. Most of them have already offered me. They just wanted to check in and see how school was going, how I did last week and who we’re going to play this week.”

Jackson played in the Kickoff Classic jamboree last weekend, helping lead Fletcher to a surprising 39-14 blowout of Jacksonville Mandarin.

“We forced five turnovers on defense,” he said. “That’s how it got to be so lopsided. I had 101 all-purpose yards and ran a punt back 75 yards for a touchdown. I was matched up with (5-star cornerback and fellow Rivals100 member) Tony Carter a couple of times when I was at receiver. He’s really good, but I had one good catch against him for 26 yards. I wound up with three tackles on defense.”

Most schools project Jackson as a safety. He has offers from 15 schools, including Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska and Vanderbilt. He's also receiving heavy interest from Miami.

Jackson recently told Rivals that Florida and Georgia Tech were among his leaders – and admitted he grew up a Gator fan – but isn’t listing any favorites at this point.

“I’m kind of going through the process of looking at everybody right now,” he said. “I haven’t really started to narrow things down.”

Some unofficial visits are developing, though. He’ll attend Florida State’s game against Maryland this weekend, Florida A&M at Florida on Sept. 13 and Alabama at Ole Miss on Oct. 18.

“I don’t have any official visits set right now,” he said. “I’ll probably wait until after the season for those.”

As a junior, Jackson recorded 90 tackles, nine interceptions and five touchdowns via defense and special teams to earn all-state honors.

He maintains a 3.1 GPA and has scored a 23 on the ACT.