As his list of football scholarship offers continues to grow, so too does Tayven Jackson’s standing as one of the nation’s most-sought-after high school quarterbacks.
Communicating with recruiters through Zoom meetings and text messages would be enough to keep most athletes busy, though the Center Grove junior wasn’t about to let his love of basketball be nudged into the background.
The 6-foot-5 wing is one of the driving forces for an 11-6 Trojans squad, averaging 12.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
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“It’s important to me because it keeps me in shape,” Jackson said. “Going from football to basketball, they’re different sports, but you can take some pieces from basketball to football, and the other way around. I play it because I love basketball and the guys that I play with.”
In the fall, Jackson passed for 1,756 yards and 17 touchdowns in helping lead Center Grove to an undefeated season and the Class 6A state championship. His ability to extend plays with his feet is another facet of Jackson’s game that has major Division I colleges excited.
And there are an abundance of them.
Listed a four-star dual-threat quarterback prospect by Rivals.com, Jackson currently has 26 schools vying for him, including Florida State, Michigan, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Michigan State, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas A&M and Wisconsin.
“It’s very humbling, in way,” Jackson said. “I remember not even a year ago I didn’t have any offers.”
The first, he said, was from Central Michigan.
“It was special because all these other kids got offers and I thought I was good and was putting in the work,” Jackson said. “It just didn’t come to me that fast, so I put my head down, kept grinding and it eventually took care of itself. I was happy and I’m blessed.”
Trojans boys basketball coach Zach Hahn compares Jackson’s situation to all-Big Ten receiver David Bell of Purdue, previously a four-year starter at Warren Central and integral member of the Warriors basketball team.
It was Bell, in fact, who hit the dramatic game-winner against New Albany at the Seymour Semistate during the team’s march to the Class 4A state title in 2018.
College men’s basketball programs such as Butler, Ball State and Xavier showed interest in Jackson early in his high school career. Hahn is confident the list would be much longer had the junior chosen to focus solely on basketball.
During this past football season, Jackson shot baskets before school in order to maintain his form and ease the transition once he switched seasons.
“The thing that’s incredible about Tayven is he’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen, and I’m not just talking basketball and football,” Hahn said. “I’ve been here seven years, so I’ve known him since he was little. He’s a kid who can go out and shoot mid-30s on nine holes for golf. He’s a really, really good baseball player and obviously could be a good track athlete.
“He’s very, very talented and he’s skilled. Tayven is an extremely skilled athlete.”
Jackson has yet to set a target date for when he’ll officially make his college choice. He receives approximately 50 text messages daily from college football coaches and is responsible for setting up Zoom meetings based on what academic and athletic responsibilities he has that day.
A recent such meeting with the University of Arkansas lasted nearly 90 minutes as Tayven and his parents, Ray and Karla, were provided a tour of the facilities and met with staff members from the academic, strength and nutrition staffs.
Ray Jackson, who played football at Washington State from 1993-98, is hopeful the family can make college visits in the months ahead so that Tayven can possibly have a list of five or six finalists by late summer.
“He has that new generation where kids want to post everything on social media,” Ray Jackson said. “But if he has 30 offers and he narrows it to five, he has 25 phone calls to make. Those coaches are not going to find out through social media. Tayven will call them personally.”
Three years ago, the family went through a similar recruiting process with Tayven’s brother, 2019 Indiana Mr. Basketball Trayce Jackson-Davis, now a 6-9 sophomore forward at Indiana University who leads the Hoosiers in scoring and rebounding this season.
The sports and processes differ somewhat, but Tayven Jackson takes nothing for granted and is appreciative of the position he’s in.
“Our parents have raised us to where my dad doesn’t have to tell us if it’s a big deal or not. He expects us to know. He expects us to be humble about it,” he said. “To me, it doesn’t matter how big the school is, it matters about the coaches, the players and the atmosphere.”
