Letter of intent No. 6: Cornerback Jackson Vick
The sixth letter of intent comes from three-star cornerback Jackson Vick of Bailey (N.C.) Southern Nash High.
Here is a full bio on Vick.
Stats
• Senior: Vick rushed 156 times for 1,274 yards and 17 touchdowns for 9-2 Southern Nash. He also has snagged 10 passes for 225 yards and four scores. He has three kick returns for 127 yards (42.3 average), and one punt return for 26 yards. Vick has chipped in 13 tackles, one interception and one tackle for loss on defense.
• Junior: He ran 144 times for 1,072 yards and five touchdowns in seven games last spring.
• Sophomore: Vick ran 99 times for 937 yards and 11 scores, plus had 26 tackles, four interceptions and seven passes broken up.
Ratings
• Rivals.com: Three stars, No. 20 in the state of North Carolina.
• 247Sports: Three stars, No. 49 cornerback nationally and No. 16 overall in the state.
• ESPN: Three stars, No. 90 cornerback in the country and No. 26 in the state.
Scouting Report With Southern Nash Coach Brian Batchelor
NC State might have recruited Bailey (N.C.) Southern Nash senior Jackson Vick for the secondary, but that doesn’t mean he was electric on offense.
Vick rushed for over 900 yards in each of the last three years, including back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns. He played some defense, but thrived in coach Brian Batchelor’s double-wing offense.
“When he played running back, he’s a natural,” Batchelor said. “He’s a quick, explosive, fast-twitch kid. That translates to him being a DB really nicely.
“What I like about NC State’s staff, they don’t put labels on kids. It would have been easy for a lot of schools to say, ‘Well he’s a running back, but he won’t recruit him.’ It speaks a lot for them to be so open-minded.”
Vick did play defense Southern Nash at times, especially his sophomore season. Batchelor, who was elevated to head coach this past year, knew Vick had a chance to be the next talented player at Southern Nash as a freshman. NC State running back Zonovan Knight and Wake Forest running back Quinton Cooley are recent products of the program.
“We went to a scrimmage, and as a freshman we were thinking Vick could be on JV or the varsity,” Batchelor said. “We just didn’t know. We put him in the scrimmage about midway through, and he really flourished [at outside linebacker]. Looking back now, he did really well in the scrimmage and we didn’t have a JV game opening week. So we played him up and he did really well on defense actually. He didn’t play any offense that night.”
Vick is also a natural leader and that has been defined since last summer. The Covid pandemic made it hard last spring, but Southern Nash put that behind them and went 9-2 this season.
“Jackson was as good a leader as we’ve ever had,” Batchelor said. “I can’t say how many times our coaches after practice would just rave how good he was working with guys and pushing guys. He was always the first in line to do this drill.”
NC State cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell spotted Vick at an early age, but while coaching with another school. Mitchell went to see Knight for Virginia Tech in 2018, and then heard about Vick.
“It was Jackson’s freshman year,” Batchelor said. “He got to meet Jackson. Jackson always had looking the part in person. He’s is a tall, rangy, muscular kid. From the first time Coach Mitchell met him, it was pretty much over from then.”
Honors/Accomplishments
Vick was selected to the Shrine Bowl of the Carolina at cornerback, though the game wasn’t played this year due to Covid.
Vick was selected as an alternate to the Carolina Bowl All-Star Game on Dec. 12.
Vick was named first-team all-conference.
Recruitment
Vick picked NC State over Wake Forest, Duke, Appalachian State and East Carolina on June 14, 2021. He was offered by the Wolfpack on Sept. 6, 2020.
Recruiter of Record
NC State cornerback coach Brian Mitchell.
Quotable
“I've always felt like NC State was the choice for me. I committed the day after I left, but I still had visits to take that week. It was neck-and-neck, but at the end of the day, it just felt better for me to go to NC State because of my family and everything. My mom works right down the street, and we just love the city of Raleigh.” — Jackson Vick
2022 Projection
Vick is still undecided about enrolling early, but he could be a candidate for the cornerback rotation and to play on special teams if he adjusts quickly.
Highlights
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