By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Nick Jackson met with the Iowa media for the first time on Wednesday, and as far as making a strong first impression, he met the challenge.

The former Virginia linebacker has been in Iowa City for less than three weeks, so Jackson still is adjusting to his new surroundings, to his new teammates and coaching staff, to a new school, to a new town, and of course, to a new defense.

Jackson didn’t make any bold statements, and he seemed almost reluctant to promote himself in front of the media.

He was all about the team, humble and grateful for the opportunity to be a Hawkeye football player.

It makes sense why Jackson as a linebacker would pick Iowa, considering the opportunity for playing time with multi-year starters Jack Campbell and Seth Benson both having graduated and moved on.

Campbell was the 2022 Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top collegiate linebacker, while Benson was a three-year starter.

To lose both at the same time was a significant blow, and the Iowa coaches apparently felt that they needed help from the transfer portal.

“I knew there was an opportunity, but I knew there was still a lot of competition in the program,” Jackson said.

That was Jackson’s response when he was asked about his chance of playing a significant role in what will be his only season as a Hawkeye.

He was careful not to make any assumptions, or to put himself above his new teammates.

But it seems pretty clear that Jackson was brought in to help fill a gap at linebacker where there isn’t much depth or experience right now.

You couldn’t help but be impressed with Jackson’s maturity, and with his outlook on things.

It would be easy to say that Jackson seemed mature beyond his years.

But in this age of the transfer portal, newcomers in many cases are older, wiser, more battle tested, and in the case of Jackson, very accomplished, on and off the field.

Iowa now gets to benefit from what Virginia helped Jackson to become, while Jackson gets to benefit from joining what is traditionally one of the nation’s best defenses.

Jackson believes that Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker and linebacker coach Seth Wallace can help to lift him to even a higher level, and that’s saying a lot based on what Jackson accomplished at Virginia where he earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference accolades in three seasons.

“There’s everything that you want in a football program right here,” Jackson said of Iowa. “I think that coach Wallace and coach Parker, they can develop me even more, pour more into me and help me get to the next level, which is my aspiration.”

Jackson finished his Virginia career with 352 tackles, 20 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks.

He earned Second-Team All-ACC honors for the second season in a row after averaging 10.4 tackles per game in 2022, the second-best mark in the ACC. Jackson also led the ACC with 117 tackles in 2021 and was second in the ACC with 10.5 tackles per game in 2020, earning Third-Team All-ACC honors that season.

He also has earned the respect of his new Hawkeye teammates.

“He fits in great,” Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins said of  the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Jackson. “I feel like coach Wallace did a good job just bringing in a guy who’s like-minded. He works hard. He watches tape. So, it’s a new face in here, but it feels like he’s been here since I got here, just another guy who’s coming in to work hard and trying to carver out a job.

“And that’s all we can appreciate, someone that’s coming in to compete.”

In addition to his success in football at Virginia, Jackson also excelled in the classroom and he takes great pride in having graduated from Virginia.

“Academics have been everything in my life,” Jackson said. “My parents have pushed academics on me since pre-school.

“So, they’ve been pushing that on me forever, and getting my degree was really rewarding because you put in all that work for all those years. So, getting that degree meant a lot.”

Jackson, who is from Atlanta, Georgia, hopes to play in the NFL after he leaves Iowa, but he also has taken significant steps to prepare himself for life after football.

He was considered one of the top linebackers in the portal and he picked Iowa over Oklahoma.

Jackson said he expects to face more running plays as a Big Ten linebacker than he faced at Virginia.

But he also sees some similarities in how Iowa and Virginia both play defense, and how they use their linebackers.

“I think my (learning ) curve has been we might call one thing at Virginia apples and we call it one thing here, oranges,” Jackson said. “So, I think just getting the terminology down. The whole is still new so you’re still learning how to play within a system, but there’s a lot of similarities and parallels.”

Jackson said he entered the transfer portal with an open mind, and that there was no clear-cut destination.

But he also knew about Hawkeye football after having been offered a scholarship in high school.

Jackson said he used to watch Iowa play on television, and he singled out former Iowa All-America linebacker Josey Jewell as a player he enjoyed watching.

“I vividly remember being in my room with my mom and we were watching Saturday night football when I was in high school and Josey Jewel and all those guys playing football,” Jackson said. “I knew about the tradition with the Iowa defense and Iowa football. I always admired it from afar, but I never did think I would end up being here.”

And while there will be pressure on the Iowa linebackers to live up to the standards set by Campbell and Benson and other former Iowa linebackers, Jackson is used to having pressure and he embraces it.

His parents were very demanding about academics and Jackson knew he would be grounded if he ever received a grade lower than a B.

“My parents weren’t playing that.,” Jackson said. “It was academic and then sports and that’s for sure.

“I definitely wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. You come to school to go to school. So, I think my parents had a big impression with academics on me.”

More from Jackson here: