Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson announces return for 2024 season
COLUMBUS — Six draft-eligible Ohio State players on the defensive side of the ball had already announced their decisions to return for the 2024 season. Now, the Buckeyes’ offense is getting a commitment from one of its veterans: two-year starting left guard Donovan Jackson.
Jackson posted a video to social media Wednesday captioned, “There is still more to do.”
Despite a slow start to this season, Jackson became a first-team All-Big Ten selection and was ranked by ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. as the seventh-best guard prospect in this year’s draft.
Jackson posted a better pass blocking grade this season than last (72.7 in 2023 vs. 60.7 in 2022) but logged a worse run blocking grade this time around (67.3 in 2023 vs. 80.1 in 2022), according to Pro Football Focus.
After allowing seven pressures through four games, per PFF, Jackson gave up just two over the next seven outings. That included two three-game streaks without a pressure conceded.
The second of those two streaks was snapped at Michigan, where he allowed his first and only sack of the year — to say the timing was unfortunate would be an understatement.
And, before former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord threw his game-ending interception at Michigan in the regular season finale, he was hit. And before he was hit, Jackson tripped over center Carson Hinzman and let a stunting Jaylen Harrell burst through the trenches. The Wolverines EDGE got a lick of McCord, preventing him from getting the oomph he needed on a pass to star receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
“I’ve replayed that moment for a very long time, a couple of times,” Jackson said last month. “I had to get pulled out of my room by my roommate Zen [Michalski]. He was like, “Come on, man, you just gotta get out your room. You got to do something. You got to at least look at the sun for a while.’”
Since, Jackson has moved one from that fateful moment.
“All you can do is learn from it, move on from it and try to grow from it,” the junior said. “I think that was our message coming in as a unit. And as Coach [Ryan] Day says, ‘Nobody’s gonna feel sorry for you.’ It’s college football, it don’t wait for nobody. It’s not going to be like, ‘Hold on, let’s wait for them to feel good again about themselves.’ No, it’s going to keep on moving.”
Jackson and the Ohio State offensive line will try to turn the page from a trying season that ended with a nightmare performance in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri. The Buckeyes rounded out the 2023 campaign with the 88th-ranked rushing offense in the country (138.9 yards per game). They also gave up 1.77 sacks per game, a mark that’s tied for 47th in the nation.
The pressure is on for Ohio State to put forth better offensive line play in 2024, and Jackson is in line to be part of that process.
Despite not enrolling early, Jackson still played 103 offensive snaps his first year in Columbus, including 15 or more against four different Big Ten opponents. He was an everyday starter as a sophomore, the youngest member of a prolific Ohio State offensive line that sent three players to the NFL last offseason. The 6-foot-4, 320-pound Jackson was voted first-team All-Big Ten by the media in 2022, a season in which he registered the sixth-best PFF run blocking grade (80.1) on the team but allowed the second-most pressures (13), in addition to a pair of sacks.
Jackson was the top interior offensive line prospect and the No. 5 prospect in the state of Texas in the 2021 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He starred for Episcopal High School in Bellaire, where he helped win a Southwest Preparatory Conference 4A title as a junior. Before that, he played at Houston Christian High School, even starting as a freshman at left tackle.
Ultimately, he was selected for the Army All-American Bowl. Then, months later, he joined the Buckeyes in June 2021.
He’s made his mark as a two-year starter at left guard. But, as he said in the caption of his return announcement video, “there is still more to do.”
Jackson coming back will allow him to improve his draft stock and afford him the opportunity to help the Ohio State offensive line get back to its high level of play.
