‘Everything we had hoped for’: Nick Jackson exceeding Hawkeyes’ expectations

Nick Jackson is still the new man on campus. After transferring from Virginia a few months ago, Jackson has secured the starting will linebacker position. He’s also got Phil Parker’s playbook down pat.

“It’s very impressive to be honest with you,” Joe Evans said. “There’s just so many things that you have to learn and to learn that in just a couple short months is astonishing.”

The linebacker is the quarterback of the defense. He needs to know his job as well as everyone else’s. Despite starting behind the eight ball, he’s hit the ground running.

“He’s playing catch-up, and there’s a lot of communication that goes on,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Looks like we don’t do a lot on defense, but there’s a lot of communication, a lot of intricate little things, and the linebackers are the switchboards for that, so he’s really been playing catch-up on that since he wasn’t here last spring.”

“But he works at it. He’s got a lot of pride, and he’s an intelligence guy, so he really works at it. I think he’s everything we hoped for and he’s also assumed a leadership role on top of that.”

Jackson says the Hawkeye experience has exceeded what he expected.

“When I transferred in you always have a little bit of anxiety,” Jackson said. “It’s exceeded all my expectations.”

“I mean I honestly see him as one of my best friends on the team. He’s such a great guy. He’s so great to be around,” Evans said of Jackson.

Tomorrow, Jackson suits up as a starting linebacker on a Hawkeye defense. And he’ll swarm the field for the very first time.

“I’m excited to swarm, I’m excited to do all that. I’m very appreciative of them giving me the opportunity to be a Hawk and I’m excited. So I’m excited to go out there and compete.”

For more Hawkeyes coverage, follow @HawkeyeHQ on Twitter and Facebook.