Top Offensive Tackles in NFL Draft: Austin Jackson
USC’s Austin Jackson, who protects his QB and his sister, checks in at No. 5 in our ranking of the top offensive tackles in the NFL Draft.
Protecting his quarterback? That will be worth millions of dollars to Austin Jackson.
Protecting his little sister? Priceless.
Autumn Jackson was diagnosed at birth with a rare blood disorder called diamond-blackfan anemia. People afflicted with this condition do not make enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to other cells in their body. When she was in middle school, the condition worsened and she needed regular blood transfusions.
“There’s issues that can arise with getting maybe the wrong blood,” Austin Jackson said at the Scouting Combine. “You never know. There's been some issues when she's gotten the wrong blood, her body rejects the blood, and she's had to go to the hospital.”
When Austin was a freshman at USC, his mother told him about the potential of a bone-marrow donation.
“It was just an early idea at the time,” Jackson told the USC athletics site last year. “She said they would have to blood test potential donors, and she asked if I wanted to be tested.”
Actually, it was a series of 12 blood tests. Austin was a perfect match.
“There were a lot of emotions,” he said at the Combine. “I was happy. I was excited. But, most importantly, I just thanked God. It was a miracle and I was glad I could do that for my family.”
Because she would have to undergo chemotherapy, Autumn wanted to wait until after she graduated from high school. She graduated in May and the bone-marrow procedure was set for June.
“It was a long process,” Austin Jackson said. “I had to take the whole offseason to go home and be with her and train on my own. I couldn’t afford to get sick. Otherwise, the procedure would have been prolonged.” That meant working out when others weren’t around and wiping down the equipment thoroughly to make sure it was sterile.
His surgery consisted of doctors extracting bone marrow from his hip bone little by little over the course of 3 hours with a large needle inserted through his back. Autumn received the bone marrow the next day.
The timing was perfect for his sister – and the results were, too. The procedure was a success and her body is producing its own red blood cells.
“She’s doing great,” he said. “She’s making a full recovery. No symptoms. She had to undergo chemo and her hair’s growing back. Doctors say her blood is producing at levels they’ve never seen. It’s great.”
Not that it was a consideration for Jackson, but the timing was less than perfect from his perspective as it derailed his preparation for what wound wind up being his final season with the Trojans.
“I didn't train for about three weeks after the surgery, then starting slowly working my way back to being on my feet,” he said. “The procedure takes place in my lower back. As an offensive lineman that's pretty crucial.”
Jackson earned first-team all-conference honors, though he gave up four sacks – twice what he allowed in 2018. Still, with 14 total pressures in a pass-happy attack, his pressure rate was 2.4 percent. That ranked fourth out of the top six tackles in the draft but was one of the best in the tackle class overall. With gifted feet, age (he won’t turn 21 until May 17) and NFL pedigree, Jackson is a potential first-round pick.
Jackson’s grandfather, Melvin Jackson, played offensive tackle at USC. He was part of the Trojans’ 1974 national championship team and was the team’s lineman of the year in 1975. He was a 12th-round pick by the Packers in 1976 who started 34 games in five NFL seasons.
“That would be a great story, a pretty cool story,” Jackson said. “Never been up there. Never been east or north. I've been in cold before, snowboarding, skiing, stuff like that.”
What we like
Jackson is the prototypical left tackle with his size (6-foot-4 7/8, 322 pounds), length (34 1/8-inch arms) and athleticism (5.07 in the 40). When he’s on his game, he’s got the skill-set to stop any speed rusher cold. He took a step forward as a run blocker in 2019, with USC’s backs going from 1.4 yards before contact to 3.3. The Trojans ran a lot of zone scheme so there’s plenty of film to check out.
What we don’t like
Jackson was roasted in big individual matchups against Iowa’s A.J. Epenesa (2.5 sacks, one forced fumble) and Utah’s Bradley Anae (one sack, two tackles for losses). He lacks the mean streak of the guys at the top of the offensive tackle rankings. He’s got some fundamental flaws – his hands, first and foremost – but that’s nothing that can’t be cured by quality coaching.
Bill Huber’s Offensive Tackle Profiles
No. 1: Louisville’s Mekhi Becton
No. 3: Georgia’s Andrew Thomas
No. 4: Alabama’s Jedrick Wills
