KJ Jackson is still in the very early stages of his Arkansas career, but he has already earned the vote of approval by his head coach when second-year quarterback Taylen Green departs the program following this season. “I believe in him wholeheartedly,” Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman said at SEC Media Days last month. “I […]
KJ Jackson is still in the very early stages of his Arkansas career, but he has already earned the vote of approval by his head coach when second-year quarterback Taylen Green departs the program following this season.
“I believe in him wholeheartedly,” Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman said at SEC Media Days last month. “I believe he’s the quarterback for us in the future, I do. We’re not going out and looking for somebody else when Taylen Green leaves. We got him. He’s on campus and we believe in him.”
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bobby Petrino did not make any claims for the future in that regard, but he is impressed about how the offense has become more natural for Jackson and the eagerness he has to continue learning.
“KJ picks up things really well,” Petrino said. “When you ask questions in the meeting room, he’s the first one that wants to answer it. He sometimes jumps in there and answers it when I want someone else to answer it.”
Along with comparing the love he feels in Fayetteville to his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Jackson discussed competing with Green and being mentored by Petrino.
“It’s been awesome, getting in here with Taylen coming in at the same time, and just really through coach Petrino’s offense with him,” Jackson said. “We get to bounce a lot of stuff off each other.
“(With Petrino) I feel like the biggest thing is just understanding coverages and his concepts to beat the coverages, different pressures. Like in high school, I had no idea about it, for real, and he’s taught me almost everything I know about football now, so it’s been great.”
ALSO READ:A healthy and revamped Taylen Green is ready to go in Year 2
Patience has been a virtue for KJ Jackson
Jackson is entering his second season as a Razorback after appearing in last year’s season opener against Arkansas – Pine Bluff, in which he completed all four of his pass attempts for 59 yards.
He redshirted after arriving at Arkansas as a four-star prospect who had additional offers that include Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss and Penn State.
Jackson played behind Green and Malachi Singleton – who transferred to play for former Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom at Purdue during the offseason – but now that he is all but penciled in as the No. 2 quarterback, the goal is find a way to get him more reps in 2025.
“Let’s go back to last year,” Pittman said at SEC Media Days. “We opened up with Pine Bluff. We were able to get Malachi in the game. We were able to get KJ in the game. When we needed Malachi against Tennessee, Malachi was able to do it. Some other teams are able to play their twos a little bit more. We’re hoping to be one of those teams to get KJ in the game.”
While perfectionism has its strengths, one of the key areas of opportunity for Jackson is to have a short memory. He experienced one of those moments last Saturday following Arkansas’ first scrimmage of fall camp.
“He was really hard on himself,” Petrino recalled. “He was like, OK, we had an 88 play scrimmage and he played really, really good for 84 of those plays. And you say, ‘KJ, what’d you think? How did you do today?’ The first thing he would do is recite the four plays that he didn’t do a good job on. So we’re working on that.
“As a quarterback you have to take that and throw it behind you and then focus on the next play. He had a hard time dong that as a freshman and even to start the first week or two of spring ball. But I think he’s really matured.”
Jackson acknowledged that Petrino has helped him focus on the things he can control.
“I like to say I’m a little bit of a perfectionist, but Coach Petrino, he’s talked to me about it,” Jackson said. “That was a big thing after spring ball, him talking to me about it, and just saying it’s OK to know what you have to fix, but you also have to know what you did good. It’s just football, the mistakes are going to happen.”
ALSO READ: Petrino details how Taylen Green has improved in Year 2
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