JUCO LB to play two sports in WAC

Brenham (Texas) Blinn College linebacker Princeton Jackson has had a very good career for the Buccaneers. As a freshman last season, he helped lead the team to the national championship and was named the conference defensive player of the year. After another year at Blinn, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound defender is ready to head to a Division I program.

This past weekend Jackson officially visited a Western Athletic Conference school. After spending the weekend there, he decided it was where he wanted to continue his athletic career.

"I actually committed to UNLV today," Jackson said on Sunday evening. "I was on my official visit this weekend and I committed when I was there in our final meeting with the coaches this morning.

"They were very excited. I heard a lot of their fans were excited too."

Jackson saw a lot of things he liked while on campus. The culture surrounding the team was something that made a huge impression.

"One thing I saw there - they're rebuilding their program with a lot of young guys," the nation's No. 27 overall junior college prospect said. "These guys are hungry to win. I feel like I can be a big piece of that puzzle when I get up there. We went to a basketball game and I saw how hungry the fans were too. They were really passionate. That's the main thing I loved.

"The team and all the coaches, you can tell they get along with each other. That's something I really liked from my future teammates. It's one of the big reasons I committed. My family, they loved the place too."

Jackson, an Iowa State signee out of Houston Cypress Ridge two years ago, is actually a two-sport standout. He will have a chance to play both once he arrives at UNLV.

"The opportunity they gave me to play baseball, that was a big thing for me," he said. "My first love was baseball before I even thought about playing football. I had talked to them about it and, once the coach saw me on my visit, he just fell in love.

"When I'm done with football at UNLV I'll still have a redshirt year for baseball. I'll play both for the year before that but then I'll just play baseball. I can get my Master's too since I'll be there for three years. Education is very important to me so that's exciting that I can do that."

With a verbal commitment out of the way, Jackson says the recruiting process is finalized.

"I'm done," he said. "I'm fully committed to UNLV. I'm just working hard and getting ready for next season versus Wisconsin."