Playing Free – Jackson Living the Dream as IU Starter
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Easy? Nothing worthwhile ever is. Tayven Jackson understands that, has lived it, worked it, pushed it, and stressed over it.
Benefits and opportunity have arrived. He’s Indiana’s starting quarterback.
“It’s a dream come true,” the redshirt freshman says. “It's everything you want to hear from a coach.”
Jackson joined the program last winter from Tennessee with great expectations, great acclaim, a really famous brother (All-America IU basketball player Trayce Jackson-Davis), and no guarantee.
This is, after all, a Tom Allen program. Love Each Other doesn’t include taking short cuts.
Jackson would have to earn the starting job, which meant beating out fellow redshirt freshman Brendan Sorsby, which was not etched-in-stone certain. What Sorsby lacked in acclaim and experience, he made up for in competitiveness and talent, showing it again and again in practice and games. He conceded nothing.
The strain was evident then, just as the relief is now.
“It's been a struggle,” Jackson says. “It's been hard going through a quarterback battle, but that's life."
Allen and offensive coordinator Walt Bell wanted a battle. IU needs a quarterback that can win games, a quarterback tough and resilient enough to withstand Big Ten challenges and adversity, because plenty of that is coming.
It already has.
For nine months of winter workouts, spring practice, summer workouts, fall camp, and then games against Ohio State and Indiana State, Jackson and Sorsby battled without animosity.
In a world of so much divisiveness, that matters.
“There were times you could see the pressure getting to them a little bit,” Allen says. “It was a lot harder on players than most people realize.
“Having that process completed helps you feel more comfortable in practice.
“It’s the maturity process of a quarterback that they can handle pressure. Now that you know this is your role, that you’re the guy, go lead, give your best every day in practice.”
In two games, the 6-5, 215-pound Jackson has completed 73.1 percent of his passes for 260 yards. He hasn’t thrown an interception or a touchdown. Sorsby is at 53.1 percent for 166 yards. He, too, hasn’t thrown a touchdown or an interception.
That led to a loss to Ohio State and a win over Indiana State.
For Allen, it came down to Jackson’s poise and execution under game pressure. Sorsby might have had the practice edge, but “You’ve gotta do it on game day,” Allen says. “That was the final piece of the evaluation for me. That’s where Tayven separated himself.”
Here is Jackson, in a Henke Hall setting, the confirmed starter at last, putting it all in perspective.
“During the spring and camp, there was a lot of stress,” he says. “In practice, you’d think, if I make a mistake, another quarterback might go in.”
Stress or not, he and Sorsby embraced that iron-sharpens-iron approach.
“I just play football,” Jackson says. “The coaches decide. Whoever they want to go with, it is their decision. I can’t control it. I can only control my effort and attitude. Play free and play the game.”
And so they both did.
“Brendan and I did a good job with our mindset -- study and be ready like you’re the guy. Through spring and fall camp, our mentality was we were the guy. It doesn’t change now that someone is the starter and someone is the backup.
“Coach Bell and Coach Allen do a good job letting you play loose and free.”
Jackson will need that, and more, starting Saturday against Louisville (2-0) at Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium.
It’s the coaches’ job, Allen says, to put Jackson in position to succeed early and often.
“Any time you play a high-level team and have a young quarterback, you want him to get comfortable. You want him to feel good about his reads and progressions.
“We have to do a great job as a staff to help him get that early momentum and flow, and get comfortable. Louisville will try to do the opposite and make him uncomfortable.
“Tayven has a high level of poise. He’s already shown that in the first two games. I expect to see it on Saturday.”
Adds Jackson: “Playing in a game, it comes naturally. You are out there trying to win a game. Once I step on the field, I let everything go and play free.”
Jackson’s toughness was evident in fall camp. Most of the time, quarterbacks couldn’t get hit, but occasionally coaches went live. In one third-and-short situation, Jackson converted on a quarterback sneak.
“He was all fired up,” linebacker Aaron Casey says. “He was like, ‘I love contact.’ Quarterbacks don’t get hit in camp, but he definitely brought it.”
Good quarterback play requires bringing it every play, and that goes way beyond throwing and running. You have to lead; you have to understand all the nuances of the offense and what everyone is doing at all times; you have to understand and read defenses designed to confuse you. On every play, you have to do all that in a few seconds often under extreme pressure.
Bell says Jackson has those attributes.
“When you call something, he can see it in his brain. For a young quarterback, that’s the biggest thing. The overall system knowledge is where he’s improved the most.”
Jackson brings a pass-run threat crucial to stretching defenses to the breaking point.
“For a taller, basketball-ish build, he is a good runner,” Bell says. “He’s a physical runner. That, to go along with his other skills, is the biggest thing. Cause you never know.
“You see people’s feet get on fire, you see people all of a sudden make poor pocket management decisions when there’s live bullets. And we haven’t seen much of that.”
Moving forward, Bell adds, “It’s about running the offense, taking care of the ball, doing his job at a high level, as opposed to having to make every play. The same boring fundamental things we always talk about.”
Jackson arrived in Bloomington last winter after one season at Tennessee, where he played behind Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton III, a pair of dynamic quarterbacks who combined to throw for 37 touchdowns, two interceptions, and more than 4,000 yards. Hooker, now with the NFL’s Detroit Lions, was the SEC offensive player of the year.
“The No. 1 thing when you come into a new program,” Jackson says, “is you have to learn the offense really well. You have to know what the O-line is doing, what the receivers are doing, what the running backs are doing, even what the defense is doing.
“Developing a good relationship with your teammates is the key.”
Jackson has impressed those teammates. Receiver Donaven McCulley played against Jackson in high school when McCulley was the all-state quarterback at Lawrence North and Jackson was the Center Grove all-state quarterback.
“I love how he carries himself,” McCulley says. “He has a lot of confidence. Sometimes we’ll make eye contact during a game, and I know exactly what he wants me to do.
“Being the guy now, you have to do your thing. He’s done a good job of that.”
Jackson was 5-0 in his career against Lawrence North, which also featured all-state wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., now an IU receiver.
“He always had a good arm, made the right reads, and delivered a good ball,” Cooper says. “I used to like watching him play, even though we were losing.”
Running back Josh Henderson says Jackson made a big jump against Indiana State.
“He was more free, more confident.
“He’s a mobile guy. He prides himself on that. He’s accurate. He’ll throw deep.
“It’s exciting to see him at an early stage of his career. He has a big upside. His ceiling is high. I can’t wait to see how far he’ll go.”
Jackson’s father, Ray, knows what it’s like to play sports at an elite level. He was a cornerback for Washington State’s 1998 Rose Bowl team and went on to play in the NFL, NFL Europe, and the Arena Football League.
But his expertise, and fatherly advice, have limits. According to his son, that includes quarterback evaluation.
“My dad is straight defense,” Jackson says with a smile. “He doesn’t know anything about offense.”
The elder Jackson does know a lot about leadership and team chemistry.
“My dad does a phenomenal job of keeping it real with me. When I found out I would be the starter, my dad told me to check on Brendan. He puts it in perspective -- what if you didn’t get it? How would you feel? You’d want someone to be there for you.”
What did Jackson-Davis, now a rookie for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, say when he heard his brother had won the starting job?
“He said, ‘Good job, young king. Don’t look back.’
“My brother isn’t very emotional. I am emotional toward him. Getting that from him, it speaks louder than what he actually said.”
Jackson will be tested by a Louisville defense that has held its first two opponents to 50 percent completion percentage and 192.5 yards per game. It has intercepted two passes.
“Their secondary is really aggressive,” Allen says. “They contest a lot of balls. They play with a lot of confidence.”
Jackson has Lucas Oil Stadium experience from his Center Grove days. He led the Trojans to two state titles there. IU also practiced there one day during fall camp.
“It will be exciting, but nothing new,” Jackson says. “The lights are bright. The hashes are bigger. It’s a bigger stadium. Everything is blue. It’s good that I’ve played there.”
Jackson said practicing at Lucas Oil Stadium made him think back to his high school experience, “but those days are over.”
“We’re just trying to win a game.”