He has an offer list as impressive as anyone in the country, and despite what looks like a disadvantage regarding distance, Tennessee is one of the schools that's caught his eye.
Two big factors are the early impression Butch Jones has made on him, along with the fact that Jackson is looking to continue a promising track career in college while also playing football.
"My impression of coach Jones and his staff is great right now. He's a real energetic guy. I've talked to a lot of people about him and everybody seems to have something good to say," Jackson said, adding that he's done some clandestine research of his own.
"I've even done things like ask people who don't know that Tennessee is recruiting me what they think of coach Jones to see what they say and everybody seems to speak highly about him."
Tennessee's storied track program may not be on the same level it has been in the past, but the Vols' strong record of historically having athletes compete in both sports, going back to the Willie Gault era, isn't lost on Jackson.
That could end up being a strong point in their favor, as Jackson seems to make it clear that the ability to try his hand at both sports is going to be a large part of his college decision.
"A lot of people are open to let me try to do both, some don't seem like they're as open to it. It's going to be a huge part of my decision. I've wanted to compete at a high level in track and field since I was in eighth grade, before I ever thought I'd have a chance to play college football," he said of the importance of competing in both sports.
"Tennessee is one of the places that I've talked about doing both, they're open to it and it's a big reason why they've jumped in there early as far as my recruiting. They've got a history of athletes doing both, like Justin Hunter could have possibly made the Olympics in the high jump if he hadn't hurt his knee.
"He didn't play football, but Justin Gatlin is from there, and he just beat Usain Bolt, so you know they have a history there."
Jones and the Vols will have a chance to show Jackson exactly what they have to offer next month, as he confirms that he intends to stick with a plan he related to us earlier of visiting Knoxville in July.
"I'm still going to visit in July for sure, I've talked to the coaches about it and it's all set up. I'm coming out this way to visit Illinois, then I'm going to head South for a few days and check out Tennessee," he said.
"I've only lived in California for two years, before that I lived in St. Louis, so I don't have deep roots there or anything. I wouldn't say that location is a big factor for me in looking at schools right now," he said on the topic of distance.
"I've got a top ten right now but nowhere close to a top five. I'll hopefully get there after this summer going into the season," he said of how close he was to cutting that list down.
