Throughout this season, LSU’s defense, especially the secondary, has been uncertain and constantly changing. With players adapting to new positions in the secondary, the coaching staff took the 2023 recruiting class as an opportunity to secure more depth to their defense.
LSU has landed three safeties in the 2023 class alone, one of those coming from about a half hour away. That’s Kylin Jackson.
Jackson is a 6-foot-1, 195 pound safety from Zachary High School in Zachary, Louisiana. According to the 247sports Composite, Jackson is ranked as the No. 12 safety in the country, the No. 10 recruit in Louisiana and the No. 177 overall recruit in the country.
Similar to the other recruits from the greater Baton Rouge area in LSU’s class, Jackson wanted to stay close to home. He saw LSU as an opportunity to excel at a high level, but also one that wouldn’t be far.
“It’s home. It’s where I need to be,” Jackson said.
Jackson takes great pride in playing in front of his hometown, but that isn’t all he wants to do while at LSU. Because many of his family and friends will be able to see him play at Tiger Stadium, he feels the only way to meet expectations is to bring home a national championship.
“It feels great, playing for my hometown,” Jackson said. “Winning a national championship for my hometown would be great too, though.”
Being from the Baton Rouge area, Jackson has friendships with the other recruits from the area like Shelton Sampson Jr. and Rickie Collins. Jackson played against Collins’ Woodlawn High team, in which Jackson’s Zachary team came away with a 33-6 win. Jackson will face Sampson’s team at Catholic High on Thursday.
Jackson has yet to become close with the recruits who aren’t local.
“I talk to some of [the LSU commits],” Jackson said. “Some of them a little bit, but not all of them.”
However, Jackson wants more recruits from Baton Rouge who are committed to other schools to join him at LSU. One of these recruits is Jordan Matthews, who plays with Collins at Woodlawn High and is committed to Tennessee.
“We’re trying to switch Jordan Matthews over,” Jackson said.
Regardless, Jackson, who committed to LSU in mid-August, is part of a Top- 10 ranked recruiting class for the Class of 2023, and a class that has landed over 20 commits from 10 different states.
The addition of Jackson not only will add talent to LSU’s roster, but he will also add depth to the secondary come next season. Based on Jackson’s efforts to flip local recruits to LSU, the Tigers may not be finished.
