2020 NFL Draft: Nebraska cornerback Lamar Jackson scouting report

Lamar Jackson’s Background

Jackson was born on April 13, 1998. He was born in Elk Grove, California and went to Franklin High School in Elk Grove.

In high school Jackson was a polymath on the football field, playing various positions on the team at various times, depending on where the team needed him.

According to Nebraska’s team website, Jackson in his senior year of high school threw four touchdowns for 544 yards as a quarterback, made 28 tackles on defense and rushed for four touchdowns on 644 yards. Jackson was able to balance playing on the offense and defense of his high school team.

His dual-threat ability was displayed earlier than his senior year, as he quarterbacked and rushed the ball during his sophomore and junior seasons in high school, while also being the starting quarterback in his sophomore season in Elk Grove.
Jackson also played basketball during his high school years and was considered one of the top 20 athletes in the state of California by college recruiters.

According to 247 Sports, Jackson was a four-star recruit coming out of high school. They had Jackson listed as a safety and was considered the fifth-best safety in the country in the 2016 recruiting class and the 14th best prospect in all of California.

Considering California has the largest population in the United States and it produces the second-highest amount of professional football players according to Business Insider (via Pro-Football-Reference), Jackson could be considered one of the best safeties recruited in 2016.

Jackson turned down offer sheets from several larger, more nationally renowned schools such as USC, Oregon and Michigan to play for the Cornhuskers. According to an interview Jackson gave after he committed to Nebraska, it wasn’t about fame or national recognition that led him to sign up with Nebraska. According to Recruiting News Guru, Jackson said this:

“They (Nebraska) had the whole package. The fan base, the coaching staff, and the defensive scheme I wanted to play in. They answered all the questions I had and they were able to get me the number I wanted. They were great to my family.”
-Lamar Jackson

Coming into his freshman year, Jackson played as the third cornerback in the rotation. According to Sports-Reference.com, Jackson played in five games that season and logged 14 tackles in that short time, along with two tackles for a loss and one sack.

Jackson’s sophomore season saw him step up as one of the team’s starting cornerbacks in 2017. According to the team’s website, Jackson was the only player from Nebraska’s secondary to play every game that season. He logged in 38 tackles that season, most of any player on the team.

Jackson’s junior season in 2018 showed consistent progress as well, but it wasn’t until his senior season that he took it to another level. He posted three interceptions in 2019, a huge improvement from the previous three seasons.

His senior season saw Jackson record 40 tackles, four tackles for a loss, 12 pass breakups and 2 fumble recoveries. While his play had been satisfactory in his first three seasons for Nebraska, there were certain speed bumps along the way.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, Jackson was benched against Purdue in September 2018. No reason is listed in the article about why he was benched. The article does state that Jackson did not dispute the benching and that after spending time talking to the coaches, he returned by the end of October.

Head coach Scott Frost said after the benching, Jackson had made significant improvements and the article states that his first two games back in the lineup were the best games of his career.
Whatever led to the benching, it ended up helping Jackson turn a corner in his college career that autumn and Jackson kept that momentum going into his senior season.