Recruiting on the South Plains | DE Branden Jackson

We're moving on to the second of three defensive end commits, Branden Jackson (the others being Desimon Green and Cooper Washington).  I think the only profiles that DTN lacks is Washington, DT Leon Mackey, DT Donte Phillips and ATH Otis Wright. Let's get to it.

The Measurables:

Branden Jackson
Position: DE
DTN Profile
Video: N/A
Rivals Profile 5.7
Scout Profile
ESPN Profile 78
Ht: 6'5"
Wt: 220 lbs
Forty: 4.60
High School: McKeesport (McKeesport, PA)

More after the jump.

The Player Speaks:  Prior to the season, Jackson talked about moving to inside linebacker and almost quit his high school team:

Was there a time when you thought basketball was your No. 1 sport? That's funny. Really last year, I thought basketball was going to be my sport. I went into football season and didn't think I would be a big part of the offense. Then they told me I would play middle linebacker and I had never played that before. I said, 'Man, I'm going to quit.' I thought I'd work hard to get a scholarship for basketball. But after playing linebacker, I started loving it.

And yes, the picture in the linked article show Jackson playing basketball and this year he's averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds a game for his high school team. 

And before the high school year started, Jackson was interviewed by a local television station and he does a good job of answering the reporter's fast-ball questions.

The Video:  The only free video can be found on Jackson's ESPN profile.  Go check it out. 

Scouting Report:  The thing that jumps out at me is that I think he's much more athletic than Green or Washington and for me, it's not really close, but Washington would be second on that list.  Anyway, as Jackson mentioned above, he wasn't real keen on moving to middle linebacker, and it's strange to see such a big and athletic guy playing middle linebacker and he's probably not ideally suited to play middle linebacker.  Still, you can see Jackson's athleticism really shine playing quarterback on his film and he's fast.  He has that long stride that probably makes him look not quite as fast, but that stride makes up a lot of ground.  I just love this type of athlete as he can probably do a number of things for a defense.

Branden, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!

The 2011 Class: 

Position	Commitment	Ht/Wt	School/State	Rivals	Rivals Rating	Scout	ESPN	ESPN Grade
QB	Michael Brewer	6-0/175	Lake Travis (Austin, TX)	3	5.7	3	3	78
RB	Kenny Williams	5-10/210	Hendrickson (Pflugerville, TX)	4	5.8	4	4	80
RB	Bradley Marquez	5-11/180	Odessa (Odessa, TX)	3	5.7	4	4	79
WR	Derek Edwards	6-1/163	Brenham (Brenham, TX)	4	5.8	3	3	79
WR	Marcus Kennard	6-4/205	Butler County C.C. (El Dorado, KS)	4	5.8	2	0	0
WR	Jakeem Grant	5-7/157	Horn (Mesquite, TX)	3	5.5	3	3	75
TE	Jace Amaro	6-5/237	MacArthur (San Antonio, TX)	4	5.9	4	3	78
OL	Tony Morales	6-4/300	Sam Houston (Arlington, TX)	4	5.8	3	3	78
OL	Alfredo Morales	6-3/287	Sam Houston (Arlington, TX)	3	5.7	3	3	76
OL	Le'Raven Clark	6-6/245	Rockdale (Rockdale, TX)	3	5.7	4	3	79
OL	Matt Wilson	6-7/270	Coldspring-Oakhurst (Coldspring, TX)	3	5.5	3	0	45
DL	Dennell Wesley	6-3/315	Butler County C.C. (El Dorado, KS)	3	5.5	2	0	0
DL	Leon Mackey	6-5/260	Hinds C.C. (Raymond, MS)	4	5.8	3	0	0
DL	Donte Phillips	6-3/260	Homestead (Mequon, WI)	2	5.4	3	2	74
DE	Kindred Evans	6-6/215	South Grand Prairie (Grand Prairie, TX)	3	5.6	3	3	75
DE	Branden Jackson	6-4/220	McKeesport (McKeesport, PA)	3	5.7	4	3	78
DE	Desimon Green	6-5/230	Clairton (Clairton, PA)	3	5.5	3	3	78
DE	Cooper Washington	6-4/225	Muleshoe (Muleshoe, TX)	3	5.7	3	3	78
LB	Blake Dees	6-0/234	Spanish Fort (Spanish Fort, AL)	3	5.5	3	2	73
LB	Sam Eguavoen	6-2/220	Lakeview Centennial (Garland, TX)	3	5.6	2	3	75
LB	Justin Cooper	6-1/205	University School of Nova South (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)	3	5.5	2	2	74
CB	Jeremy Reynolds	5-9/166	Oak Ridge Military Academy (Oak Ridge, NC)	3	5.5	2	3	77
ATH	Ronnie Daniels	6-1/195	La Cueva (Albuquerque, NM)	3	5.6	3	3	76
ATH	LaDarrin Robertson	6-3/215	Longview (Longview, TX)	3	5.5	3	3	77
ATH	DeAndre Washington	5-9/183	Marshall (Missouri City, TX)	3	5.7	4	3	78
ATH	J.J. Gaines	5-11/175	Irving Nimitz (Irving, TX)	3	5.6	3	3	77
ATH	Otis Wright	6-0/180	Dillard (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)	2	5.4	0	0	45
Averages				3.14	5.62	2.92	2.40	66.00