Football fans have seen color commentators point it out for years. When an injury occurs in the defensive backfield and a less experienced or accomplished player enters the game, opposing offenses love to test that player in coverage.
Florida was no different. During Missouri’s win over the Gators on Saturday, starting cornerback Akayleb Evans watched the game from the sidelines, wearing street clothes. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said Evans was sidelined by a “soft tissue injury.” His absence further depleted an already decimated Tiger secondary. Ennis Rakestraw and Ish Burdine, who started the season at the two outside corner spots, didn’t dress for the game, and the defense was also without Chris Shearin and Shawn Robinson, both of whom have contributed at nickelback.
That left the coaching staff with two options: move Kris Abrams-Draine from the slot corner position, where he has excelled this year, to the outside and play junior safety Stacy Brown at nickel, or hand over Evans' every-down role to true freshman DJ Jackson. Steve Wilks opted for the latter, giving Jackson his first career start.
Florida quarterback Emory Jones noticed. Jones, who had thrown for 486 yards and six touchdowns against Samford the week prior, targeted Jackson in coverage more often than any other Missouri defender. Jackson surprised Jones — and even some of his own coaches — by holding his own against Florida's talented receivers.
“To be put in that situation and play as well as he did was extremely impressive,” Drinkwitz said. “DJ walks around with a lot of confidence, but man, I didn’t know he was gonna play that well.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson gave up four completions on his seven targets for 40 yards. Just as important as his tight coverage was his sure tackling. Multiple times, he squared up a receiver in the open field and brought him to the ground short of the first down marker. He finished the game with five stops.
Those that have spent time around Jackson say that’s typical. He’s never been intimidated by a challenge, and he had shown his coaches and teammates that he was capable of playing at that level during practice.
“I thought D-Jack played amazing, for a freshman,” safety Martez Manuel said. “I never doubted him. He works his butt off all week, practices with great intensity so I knew that when game day came, he was going to execute.”
While Jackson’s own head coach was pleasantly surprised by Jackson’s performance, his high school coach was not. Michael Quintero, who coached Jackson at Red Oak high school in Texas and now coaches at nearby Cedar Park, said the best word he could use to describe Jackson was “different.” Quintero said the Red Oak staff felt comfortable putting him on the field at a younger age than most defensive backs. As he got older, they’d pit him in one-on-one coverage against the opposing team’s best receiver.
“The way that he could read formations and checks, man, he was just a step above everybody else,” Quintero said. “He could break on balls better than a lot of our upperclassmen could. He just possessed those skills.
“His junior year, we started seeing things that he could do that nobody else could. … He was the one guy that we were able to put on an island and man up, be a cover corner for us and trust him out there by himself because he was just so much better. “
Everyone who talks about Jackson mentions his confidence, Quintero included. Quintero believes that results from his meticulous preparation. He called Jackson not just a student of the game but a good student in general, noting that he made straight As in high school. And it didn’t hurt that Jackson grew up with a football coach. His father, Stephen Jackson Jr., was the offensive coordinator at Red Oak during Jackson’s playing days, and he now holds the same position at perennial power Duncanville.
It wasn’t just Jackson who stepped up in the secondary against Florida. Fellow cornerback Allie Green IV, who has seen inconsistent playing time since transferring to Missouri from Tulsa, played every defensive snap. He gave up just two catches for four yards in coverage. Drinkwitz called it his best game in a Mizzou uniform.
“It was senior night, and we had a couple guys down, so it was time to step up,” Green said. “I knew I was going to be playing like the whole game, so I could just lay it all out.”
The play of Jackson and Green was important because it allowed Missouri to keep Abrams-Draine at nickelback. The converted wide receiver has emerged as arguably the team’s best defensive player, totaling 28 tackles and three interceptions. Especially with Shearin and Robinson unavailable, Wilks said the defense is better with Abrams-Draine covering the slot.
“To be able to get the opportunity to get the best guys on the field, you like him to be at the nickel position where you can have one of those other corners out there,” Wilks said.
The Tigers will certainly want Abrams-Draine at nickel during this week’s regular-season finale. Drinkwitz said Monday that Shearin and Robinson will once again miss the matchup, and Arkansas’ passing attack revolves around receiver Treylon Burks, who has lined up in the slot for the majority of the team’s passing plays this season.
Burks, who torched Missouri for 206 yards and a touchdown on 10 catches a year ago, is putting together a monster season. He has caught 60 passes for 994 yards and 10 touchdowns through 11 games, plus added 111 yards and a score as a rusher. Drinkwitz called him one of the two best receivers in the conference. Wilks went a step further with his praise, describing Burks as “probably the best receiver in the country.”
Who gets the better of the matchup between Arkansas’ best pass-catcher and Missouri’s best defensive back could play a significant role in determining which team takes home the Battle Line trophy. But slowing down K.J. Jefferson and the Razorback passing attack won’t just fall on Abrams-Draine’s shoulders. Part of what makes Burks so dynamic is his ability to line up all over the field, so if Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendall Briles likes the matchup better between Burks and, say, Jackson, he has shown the ability to play out wide, as well.
Jackson proved last week that, should Evans miss another game and he be asked to line up opposite Burks, he won't shy away from the challenge. His ability to back up his confidence with his play against Florida bought him the trust of the defensive staff.
“The one thing I like about him, going all the way back to when he arrived, it’s never been too big for him,” Wilks said of Jackson. “He accepted the challenge of going out there and starting, and he made some plays. Critical tackles, key third down plays. So just building confidence, and definitely going to see exactly what happens this week.”
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