Steve Sarkisian: D'Shawn Jamison has taken game to another level this fall

The 2022 college football season is only a few weeks away for the Texas Longhorns’ program and one player who has been turning heads in fall camp is cornerback D’Shawn Jamison. His head coach, Steve Sarkisian, recently showered the Houston native with plenty of praise in his recent press conference. The Longhorns’ head man spoke with reporters about whether or not he’s been impressed with Jamison’s development from last year to this year.

“I have, you know. I think D.J. had a good spring and he’s taken his game maybe to another level this fall camp. And he gets challenged. Obviously, we pride ourselves on pushing the ball down the field. And doing that. And he’s got natural playmaking ability. He’s got great ball skills,” Sarkisian said.

“When I’ve been proud of him is we’re seeing more physicality out of him on the perimeter. Which was something that I think was needed for his game. And like everybody coming out of last year. All of our returners. I met with every player. Here’s where we need you to improve your game and now, here’s how we’re going to help you do that. And I think D.J. has done that and he’s expanded his game to a space where he’s more of a complete player. And you’ve seen it on the field. He’s playing with more confidence,” Sarkisian said.

Last season, Jamison racked up 48 tackles, one interception, one pass breakup, one quarterback hurry, and one fumble recovery. The past few seasons, Jamison has clearly made his mark as one of the best special teams’ return men in all of college football.

He was named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list for the 2022 season. The cornerback has already firmly cemented his status as one of the best special teams’ return men in Longhorn program history and he’ll only look to add to that legacy this season. He’s returned three kicks for touchdowns thus far in his career, tying him for the second-most in program history, just behind former Longhorn great Jordan Shipley (four special teams’ touchdowns).

Jamison has averaged 26.6 yards per kick return in his career, ranking him second all-time in program history, behind Ramonce Taylor (27.0). He also currently ranks fourth all-time in school history in kick return yards (1,435).

Coming out of Lamar High School (Houston, Texas), Jamison was rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 19 cornerback in America for the 2018 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings.