He’s had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, suffered from a bleeding stomach ulcer and battled shoulder problems.
But junior infielder Chris Jackson has started 19 of 38 games for LSU’s baseball team and awaits hearing NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell say his name during the 2007 NFL Draft on April 28 and 29.
Although Jackson has spent the past two months swinging an aluminum bat and sporting a leather glove, he said a career in the NFL has always been his childhood dream.
“If I get picked up by a team, I am going to go ahead and pursue my football career,” Jackson said. “Football is my No. 1 focus right now because playing in the NFL has always been a dream of mine. I’ve been working on my punting, kicking for teams, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing in the pros, but if not I have another year of eligibility [at LSU] to do some good things.”
According to the NCAA Bylaw 12.3.1 “An individual shall be ineligible for participation in an intercollegiate sport if he or she ever has agreed … to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing his or her athletics ability or reputation in that sport.”
Even though he signed with an agent, the bylaw does not affect Jackson’s – who is considered a junior in baseball because he redshirted in 2004 – baseball status, and he will be allowed to play his senior season if he is not drafted.
Although he may lose one of his most versatile infielders, LSU coach Paul Mainieri said he has supported Jackson’s decision to enter the draft since the first time the two spoke.
“I’m totally supportive of him pursuing anything he wants to,” Mainieri said. “I owe that to him. He has a chance to make a living in the NFL, and he’s got to do anything he can to give himself that chance. I’m not going to stand in his way.”
If drafted, Jackson will miss a handful of games. Even though he may miss a weekend series, Jackson can return to LSU to finish the semester.
Mainieri said he respects Jackson not only as a player but as a person and said he hopes his starting second baseman gets drafted.
“He’s given us a great effort; he’s done a lot of great things for our team, and even if he goes away for a weekend, he’ll be back with us again and hopefully into the postseason,” Mainieri said. “But I hope he gets picked up and plays 10 years in the NFL because I think that much of him.”
With the draft less than two weeks away, Jackson continues to workout and visit NFL teams.
He has visited with the New Orleans Saints and the Jacksonville Jaguars and will work out today with the Miami Dolphins.
Despite Jackson’s past injuries, he said everything has healed and will not affect him at the next level.
He also said while teams will not have to worry about the surgery on his elbow, he may be able to become a meteorologist if a football career is not in the cards.
“My elbow is fine, but every now and then if we get a cold snap, I can feel a difference,” Jackson said. “You can ask a lot of other guys that have had Tommy John surgery, and a couple of days before a cold front comes through, you start getting a little pain in your arm.”
Along with his other injuries, a bleeding stomach ulcer sidelined Jackson a day before Valentine’s Day.
Jackson said he had not noticed any symptoms prior to Feb. 13, but he knew something was wrong when his vomit and excrement turned black.
“I woke up at around five [o’clock] in the morning, sweating bullets, in a complete sweat, and when I was going to the bathroom, something wasn’t right,” Jackson said. “It turned out I was passing blood and bleeding internally. I went to the emergency room and when they saw that I had an ulcer, they cauterized it and burnt it to seal up.”
Despite making a full recovery, Jackson said he realizes the situation could have been much worse.
“It was a pretty big deal,” Jackson said. “I lost two pints of blood. I had to get a transfusion, and I didn’t feel too hot the first couple of days. The ulcer was right on the blood vessel, so they had to seal it up real quick because I was really losing a lot of blood. Luckily we caught it, sealed it up, and it feels good now.”
Brian Parker, Jackson’s agent, said because his clients previous injuries have been baseball related, they will have little to no effect on his draft status.
Parker said handling punting, kickoff and field goal duties for a high profile team like LSU will help Jackson come draft day.
“Chris has a lot of upside,” Parker said. “He’s a guy that can do more than one thing, so teams are going to view him as a player that can come in and not only handle the punting but be an emergency field-goal kicker and a kickoff man.”
Jackson averaged 40.9 yards per punt during his collegiate career. He also had a 57.1 percent (24-42) field goal average – his longest being 53 yards.
The ability to kick, punt and play second and third base makes Jackson a “special athlete,” according to Mainieri.
Because of his injuries and football workouts, Jackson has been limited at practice this season, one of the contributors to his .247 (19-77) batting average.
Despite his struggles, Mainieri believes Jackson will be one of the best players on the team if he returns next season.
“He’s one of the most unique athletes I’ve ever coached,” Mainieri said. “I don’t know how many people could have done what he has done. He hasn’t practiced much, and he’s performing basically on his God-given abilities. And he’s got something extra special about him that I can’t really define.”
—–Contact Jay St. Pierre at [email protected]