We start things with Ja’Keem Jackson, the cornerback transfer from Florida.
WHAT WE KNOW: Jackson was a blue-chip prospect out of Osceola High School in Kissimmee when he committed to Corey Raymond and Florida. On3 ranked the 6-foot-1, rangy corner as the No. 55 player in the country and No. 6 cornerback.
Raymond has made a career out of signing and developing longer corners, especially those ranked highly by the recruiting services.
Jackson was an Under Armour All-American with offers from Alabama, Miami, Auburn, Tennessee and others. He ran track in high school and was clocked at 10.9 in the 100-meters.
As a freshman, Jackson played in 11 games, made seven tackles and defended three passes. He earned a starting role as a sophomore in 2024 but suffered an ankle injury in Week 2 that sidelined him for the rest of the season.
Jackson comes to LSU as a redshirt sophomore who could play three more seasons but will be draft eligible every year moving forward.
THE FIT: Simply put, LSU’s talent at defensive back has suffered since 2019. That group, engineered largely by Raymond, boasted starters Derek Stingley Jr (No. 3 overall pick and Pro Bowler), Kristian Fulton (second round pick and NFL starter), Grant Delpit (second round pick and Thorpe Award Winner), JaCoby Stevens (NFL Draft pick) and Kary Vincent (NFL Draft pick), Cordale Flott (third round pick and NFL starter) and Jay Ward (NFL Draft pick) were also on that roster.
Since then, only Jarrick Bernard-Converse has been drafted, and he was a sixth rounder. Zy Alexander figures to hear his name called at some point this spring.
But the elite level talent has been missing. That’s what Raymond has been brought in to fix. LSU finished 2024 10th in the SEC in pass defense and 12th in completion percentage allowed.
Jackson has now been picked by Raymond two different times, once at Florida and again at LSU. While he doesn’t have a ton of experience playing, he is an older player will all the measurables. LSU has gone after corners from other conferences and lower divisions in the last three years. That has produced mixed results. The former five-star with discipline issues didn’t work. Neither did the injured additions from Ohio State.
This looks great on paper. We’ll see how it looks in practice.
HUNT’S PROJECTION: I think Jackson is a starter for LSU in 2025. He’ll have plenty of competition from Ashton Stamps, PJ Woodland, Mansoor Delane, DJ Pickett and Aidan Anding, but I like Jackson to land one of the boundary corner spots. I think he’s an upgrade over everyone LSU has played at the position for two seasons.
Raymond has earned my trust with evaluation. He’s hand-picked this guy multiple times. I expect LSU to finish in the Top 5 or 6 in pass defense in the SEC in 2025, and Jackson is a big part of that. We’ll see how well he moves around in the spring, but assuming the injury issues are behind him, Jackson is an impact add.
