LA Tech’s James Jackson: From Haynesville to Honolulu

It is often said that defensive backs play on an island, by themselves with no help around. Just DB versus WR.

Well, on Dec. 22 at 9:30 p.m. CT, safety James Jackson will literally be playing on an island – Oahu to be exact – as the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs will take on the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors in the SoFi Hawai’i Bowl in Aloha Stadium.

Not exactly a stone’s throw away from Haynesville, Louisiana, the hometown of the redshirt junior.

His description of the Claiborne Parish town known as the Gateway to North Louisiana – “There is nothing there really. Everyone knows everyone. We have two traffic lights on Main Street. And we have one food place Southern Classic.”

There is football too. And a lot of pride to go along with that football. The Golden Tornado recently went five straight years (2012-16) in making it to the Class 1A state championship game, bringing home two state titles during that run.

Those two state titles were helped by Mr. Jackson himself. As a senior, he earned MVP honors after returning a block field goal for 73 yards and a touchdown to help capture the 2014 championship.

“Growing up in Haynesville, football meant everything. It was a sport that the community would all come together to be a part of. The town loves football so it is like the town loves you.

“It hurt me they didn’t go back to the championship this year.”

James has become equally accustomed to going to bowl games as a Bulldog. It has been a patient journey though after redshirting as a freshman and following that up with two seasons of limited action on the gridiron.

“When I first got here, I was at corner,” Jackson said. “Then I was moved from corner to safety. And then I finally got moved to the dropdown safety. Being patient, it was the right thing. I took in a lot from other people. I just wanted to wait my turn and now my turn is now.”

In the 2018 season opener at South Alabama, all James did was … everything really. He had seven tackles, 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one quarterback hurry.

He was rightfully named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week. And the tackles have continued to stack up throughout the season, totaling 73 which ranks second on the squad.

James has also picked off a pass, had a handful of pass breakups and forced more fumbles. So the move to dropdown safety or linebacker or nickel (the position has so many names) has worked.

Ask James about his position or his stats and he’ll just say, “You just have to do whatever it takes to win cause where I come from, it is all about winning.”

And much like his travels from position to position, being able to travel to different parts of the world thanks to football has been a joy for James.

“My favorite was when we went to Massachusetts and played in the Patriots stadium. And South Carolina, I liked that environment.

“The farthest I went as a kid was Texas.”

Safe to say Honolulu has a very good chance of trumping all of those trips as his new fave.

“I looked up a couple of places when I found out we were going, just somethings to do. I really want to go see the Pearl Harbor [Memorial] because I’ve always wanted to see that.”

And to make the trip even more special … his parents will be in Hawai’i to watch him and the Bulldogs go for their fifth straight bowl victory.

From Haynesville to Honolulu. The places a sport can take you.