Trinity defender setting goals through recruiting process

For many football recruits, the process of deciphering what path their lives will take begins once they set foot on their college campus.

For Trinity defensive back A.J. Jackson, the recruitment process is opening his eyes to a whole new world of possibilities.

Jackson’s frontrunner is the University of Louisiana-Monroe after the rising senior camped at the school this summer, hoping the school will give him a scholarship offer.

The draw is simple – it’s a program that’s on the rise.

“I can see that they’re getting better and I can see that they’re wanting to get better,” he said. “I see what they’re trying to do as far as getting better. When I went there, I was listening to everything the coaches talked about and I felt like within the next year, that school is going to be on television more and everything like that.”

However, it’s the academic offerings that surprised Jackson the most.

The 5-foot-7, 147-pound senior thought he would major in sports broadcasting to stay close to the lifestyle he knows best, but when he saw the kind of internships the business school presented, his mindset changed.

He now wants the experience of working with companies around the country while he is still in school, he said.

But there’s plenty of time to work that out and a whole season left at Trinity to try and raise his stock under new head coach Chris Jensen.

While Trinity lost long-time head coach Steve Lineweaver to retirement, the program hasn’t skipped a beat with Jensen simply moving up from offensive coordinator.

“As long as our coach is somebody I’m used to, I’m fine with it,” he said. “I like that, that all of our coaches and our head coach is someone I know and I have a bond with.”

Jackson also said Lineweaver hasn’t been a stranger to the facilities since his retirement.

Personally, Jackson wants to simply put on weight and get faster in the short time leading up to the season and has managed to fit daily workouts in around a tight work schedule, he said.

It’s an improvement from an injury-shortened season that only allowed him to see action in six games, recording 11 tackles in his first year at Trinity after transferring from DeSoto.

“I’m not slow, but I’m trying to get faster,” he said of his main goal.

As for his teammates, cohesiveness is the name of the game as they take the field this fall under a somewhat new coaching regime.

“We need to stay together and play as one,” he said. “That’s what we’ve got to do. Make sure we focus and do all of our assignments and play tough and play hard and aggressive.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Trinity defender setting goals through recruiting process."