Woodside Safety Makes FCS Pick
Woodside Class of 2017 free safety Kamari Jackson has decided that he will play his College Football in the MEAC at Delaware State University.
"After talking with my mom and some coaches, I felt it could be the best for me as in distance, football and my education," Jackson told VirginiaPreps.com.
"When i went up there, I got a chance to look into their communications program and I really liked it. They have a great coaching staff, too."
Jackson also drew attention from Hampton University, Montana, Norfolk State and UVA-Wise. No one seemed to pursue the Newport News product as closely as the Hornets did, though.
"They mostly liked my aggressiveness and my ability to open field tackle," Jackson added. "For their program I know I can bring a safety that can fill the alley, cover, hit and lead since I have been the varsity captain since the beginning of my junior season."
Last season, Jackson recorded 65 total tackles, 22 assisted stops, two interceptions and forced a fumble. That made him a First Team All-Monitor-Merrimac Conference 2 performer.
"Kamari's the quarterback of our defense. He gets us in the right defense and is a smart player. He knows where everybody should be, what he's supposed to do, what everybody else is supposed to do and does a good job communicating all of that," Woodside Head Football Coach Danny Dodson.
"Not only is he smart, this will be his fourth year starting coming up and was a started in our playoff game against Ocean Lakes as a freshman. Even though he's not incredibly big, he's big enough and brings a lot of physicality to the defense. He does such a great job supporting the run for us that he's like an extra linebacker because he gets the reads and makes plays."
Jackson is part of a large senior group for a Woodside team that figures to make a deep playoff run, opening the 2016 campaign ranked #9 in the state in the VirginiaPreps.com 6A Top Ten. The Wolverines also return Army commit Tyhier Tyler at quarterback and leading rusher Tamir Walker.
Opposing offenses may not find it easy avoiding Jackson in the eyes of his coach.
"I think he just needs to continue doing what he does. Sometimes when you tell a kid to try to do more than he needs to it results in him trying to do too many things," Dodson said.
"If he just plays his role and does what we ask him to do, he'll be fine. He's in the middle of the field, so it's going to be hard for people to shy away from him, unless they're going to run side-to-side, which is fine because that'll make things easier for us."
Later this month, Woodside will be making a trip to Canton, Ohio to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They'll also be playing their season opener on August 26th there against GlenOak. The Golden Eagles finished 7-4 overall last year.
"We're hungry and have high expectations," Jackson noted. "We're going to be a good football team. As far as Ohio, it's going to be fun to go there, but it's mainly about business on defense. We have to stop the run game and get the ball to our offense. If our defense plays good, we will win."
Matthew Hatfield has covered football and basketball since 2004 for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a staff writer for Tar Heel Illustrated. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.