SUMRALL – Sumrall senior Dannis Jackson is ready to join the Nasty Wide Outs at Ole Miss.
The four-star receiver signed with Ole Miss Wednesday at Sumrall High School during the early signing period, and he’s primed to follow in the footsteps of Laquon Treadwell, A.J. Brown, DK Metcalf and many others who have developed a wide receiver tradition in Oxford.
“When I committed, it felt like family,” Jackson said. “It felt like I was in the family. Signing just finishes it off. It’s going to be fun. I’ll have great receivers beside me while I’m playing, so we’ll be able to make plays.”
Jackson played quarterback for the Sumrall Bobcats this season, but he finished his career 3,237 receiving yards and 41 touchdowns in three years of playing receiver fulltime. As the team’s quarterback, he had 1,071 passing yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions on 59 percent passing, and he added 1,444 rushing yards and 12 scores.
Believe it or not, Ole Miss wasn’t always on Jackson’s radar. While Sumrall coach Shannon White claims to remember seeing Jackson wearing Ole Miss shirts as far back as junior high, Jackson admitted he never had a dream school when starting the recruitment process.
“I didn’t even plan on going to Ole Miss at first,” Jackson said. “You can ask my receiver coach, (Ole Miss) coach (Jacob) Peeler. At first, I wasn’t even that interested. When I actually gave it a chance, I loved it.”
But, before Jackson gave Ole Miss a chance and announced his final decision prior to the season, he committed to Mississippi State. Jackson said it “was an easy decision” to flip to State’s in-state rival. The flack he received on social media didn’t bother him either.
“What (fans) say doesn’t matter,” Jackson said. “Honestly, it’s about me.”
Ole Miss signed four receivers during the early signing period, and its bound to get another one during February’s National Signing Day. The Rebels did lose five receivers from their roster due to the NFL Draft or graduation, and three of those were starters.
Jackson knows he has some work to do, though.
“If I do what I’m supposed to do, obviously I have to hit the weights and things like that, but if I do what I’m supposed to do, I’ll have a chance,” Jackson said.
From a coach’s point of the view, White is proud of the way Jackson went through his recruitment. He believes Jackson represented himself, his family and Sumrall well during the process.
“I think he did a great job of not getting the ‘big head’ about all this,” White said. “He was never arrogant about it. He’s kind of a background kind of guy. He doesn’t like the attention that comes with it, and the attention he had to have. But, you don’t have much choice nowadays with social media because his name is all over the recruiting websites. It seems like every time he opens his mouth, it seems like it makes news.
“He’s handled that so well, and that was my big concern. Just being able to handle all of this attention, the social media attention.”
