BREAKING: Heupel has his guy, Tayven Jackson breaks down commitment
Josh Heupel has landed his quarterback for the class of 2022 in four-star dual-threat quarterback Tayven Jackson.
The Center Grove High School product out of Greenwood, Indiana committed to Tennessee on Wednesday, choosing the Vols over scholarship offers from nearly 40 schools.
“Me and my family talked about it,” Jackson told Volquest about his decision. “We talked to Coach Heupel — not about committing, just talked to him — and I looked at my Dad and said, ‘I think this is the school I want to go to.’ He said, ‘Yeah, son, it’s a good fit for you, but it’s your choice.’ And then I said, ‘yeah, Dad I want to go to Tennessee.’ So, he told me to call the coaches that have recruited me and to tell them where I want to go. Then to call Coach Heupel and Coach Halzle and tell them that I want to be a Vol.”
Jackson made that phone call to Heupel on Wednesday morning to inform him of his commitment. It was met with a lot of excitement from Tennessee’s coaching staff.
“The whole coaching staff was screaming,” Jackson said. “They got up and started running. I told (Heupel) I need to buy some gear because I’m coming home and he was like ‘WHAT’ and started screaming. It was cool.
“Coach Heupel was talking about how Peyton (Manning) mentioned me and asked if he was going to get the 2022 recruit and he told him that they were trying. That was crazy how Peyton knew who I was.”
Jackson is considered the No. 7 overall dual-threat quarterback in the country by Rivals and the ninth-best player in the state of Indiana. He’s yet to visit Tennessee as a recruit, but has visited Knoxville before when his sister lived in the area. He’ll take an official visit in June, but may get to campus even sooner.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Jackson said. “I even might go down there some time just to tour the campus and stuff. My mom told me the campus is beautiful and I told her it didn’t matter about the campus. All that matters is if the field is good and the locker room is clean.”
Heupel being a fellow quarterback himself played a big role in Jackson’s decision to commit to the Vols.
“He’s a great coach, he loves his player, he loves the family,” Jackson said. “I just think he’s going to be a perfect fit for me, especially as a quarterback. He’s a quarterback, a Heisman trophy runner up. He knows how to coach me. He knows what I have to do to get to the next level. I trust him and I trust him with my career.”
It’s not just Heupel that attracted Jackson to Knoxville. So did Tennessee quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle.
“Me and Coach Halzle clicked the very first phone call we had,” Jackson said. “He said it straight up, 'you come here and I’m going to let you rip it. I’m going to get you ready and then I’m going to get you out on the field and let you rip that thing.' And that’s exactly what I want to do as a quarterback.”
Jackson is Tennessee’s third commitment in the class of 2022, but the 6-foot-5, 195 lbs. gunslinger is the first offensive player to commit to Heupel. His next order of business is recruiting more talent to follow him to Knoxville.
“I’m going to do my best to recruit everybody,” Jackson said. “The first recruit I’m going to get is Caden Curry because he goes to my high school and he’s my best friend. So I’m going to get him down there with me.
“And then I’m going to get some wide receivers and try my best to get the program going with some great players.”