"Sam is one of the those guys who doesn't want to be good. He wants to be special. His goal is to be playing on Sunday's in six years. He's got big goals and aspirations, but he's also willing to work and learn. Minnesota's culture and system fit his skill set."
Michael Stine - Napierville Central HS Football Coach
Sam Jackson is being recruited as an athlete. He is a versatile freakish speedy athlete can play WR, DB, or QB. He is a member of the" Toos" (5' 11"). Russell Wilson (5' 11") comes to mind.
Don't count him out on taking a stab at playing QB.
Out of injuries, an opportunity for someone else is born ala Zack Annexstad and Tanner Morgan.
He better train hard and be ready when his shot comes.
They run a form of RPO system in HS. He has a rifle for an arm. If he learns to play in the pocket with his arm strength and running ability. IMHO, he has the potential to be a Gophers QB. He is short, but with 4.4-4.5 speed, he is an extra RB. Good luck covering the Gophers Offense with him as QB. He needs some coaching to make him a Big Ten ready QB. He will come to the right place.
PJ Fleck has a good working relationship with his head coach Michael Stine. He runs a similar culture as the Gophers.
The Gophers are truly a good fit for him.
Here is an interview of Michael Stine by Ryan Burns. Please ignore it if you have already seen it.
HS coach has Gophers getting a "freak of an athlete" in Jackson - Ryan Burns, Gopher Illustrated, April 23, 2020
The Gophers received a commitment from one of the top athletes in the Midwest yesterday when 2021 Naperville (Ill.) Central's Sam Jackson chose Minnesota over other offers from Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Iowa and Oregon among others.
GopherIllustrated reached out to Jackson's high school head coach at Naperville Central in Michael Stine to learn more about Minnesota's newest four-star commit.
GopherIllustrated: What can you tell me about Sam as a player and as a person off the field?
Stine: Sam's athleticism speaks for itself. You don't get very many kids that can run a legitimate 4.4-4.5, has body control and quickness. As a quarterback, he can throw the ball 70 yards. He's got a really strong arm. When he played receiver, his hands are huge and he can make phenomenal catches. He's such a freak of an athlete.
I've told college coaches that he could step in and start at most power-five schools this year. Maybe not as a quarterback, but I think down the road he'll definitely be a power-five quarterback. But his athleticism would get him out on the field somewhere. He's really a quarterback by trade as he's only ever played wide receiver one year, and that's where we had now Michigan State QB Payton Thorne. But every other year he's been a quarterback. I know there's people that have knocked Sam that he might not be tall enough and this and that, but all they have to do is come watch him to play to know that he's dynamic with that ball in his hands. He's special.
GopherIllustrated: How involved were you in the recruiting process with him and what'd you think of the Gopher coaches?
Stine: I've known PJ (Fleck) since he was a junior in high school and I've known Brian Callahan from his days back at Eastern Illinois, 30 years ago. I enjoy that part of recruiting and that's the relationships. Being a PE teacher, I spend a lot of time with college coaches from across the country and talk to them on a regular basis. I talk to PJ a lot just like I do all the others.
Knowing all these coaches, I get a good feel for where is a good fit for our players. I'm very involved with our players and Sam is no different. Sam and I talk regularly and we've talked a lot the last couple of days.
A lot of the things that Minnesota's football program does is more than X's and O's. If you came and spent time with our program, we spend more time talking about character development, values and teaching life lessons than we do X's and O's. That's how my father brought me up as a coach. Every June, we have a leadership conference and PJ has promised me he'll come speak at one of these. We also have a theme every week, just like Minnesota.
There's a lot of parallel's to what PJ is doing with his program, and what we're doing with ours. A lot of colleges give culture lip service, and they get into it a little bit, but they don't live it 24/7 like at Minnesota. It's not a magic switch. It's something you have to live in, and Sam has been in a similar program here at Naperville Central. I think there was something that attracted him where he went there to Minnesota, and I don't know how a high school kid going into that type of environment wouldn't be attracted to that. It's something I want for my son and it's something I hope our high school program brings to players as well.
GopherIllustrated: Would you say Sam's strengths are as a player and what are some things he needs to work on before getting to the Big Ten?
Stine: I'd say his strengths are his arm strength. It's crazy as the ball comes out of his hand like a rocket. He can throw the ball 60 yards flat-footed. His foot speed is as good as anyone in the country at any level.
What he'll need to work on if he stays at quarterback will be that the game gets faster at the college level and so do the windows. At the high school level, you can get away with leaving the pocket early and just "out-athleting" people sometimes. As you move up in level, you have to be trust your protection and stand in the pocket. Even though you have great speed and quickness and can still make plays, but you got to know when to do so.
Sam is very good at the run-pass-option game and Minnesota's probably as good of an RPO college system as there is in the country. That's what we run here at Central as well. Sam is one of the those guys who doesn't want to be good. He wants to be special. His goal is to be playing on Sunday's in six years. He's got big goals and aspirations, but he's also willing to work and learn. Minnesota's culture and system fit his skill set.
GopherIllustrated: What can you tell me about Sam's role going into his senior year?
Stine: It's his team. We've told Sam that you're the "soul" of the team. Your better athletes have to be your hardest workers if you're going to have success as they're going to be the guys to lead the program. We give a lot of leeway and demand a lot of our players. It's very similar to what PJ does at Minnesota as it's a player-driven team. Sam's the guy that's got to lead and I'm talking with him every day.
GopherIllustrated: What do you think fans can expect to see out of Sam in his next four years at Minnesota?
Stine: He's a dynamic playmaker.
People would say last year that he's only 5-9 or 5-10, well check out the last Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma. Wherever he's at, he's electric when the ball is in his hands. Something is going to happen as he just puts so much pressure on a defense.
He's one of those "once in a lifetime" type of kids that you hope you get in your program. We've been very blessed at Naperville Central to have a few of those throughout the years, but when it's all said and done, Sam's name will be right at the top of those lists. He does some things that very few people in the country can do.
That's why Notre Dame has been so hard after him these last few weeks. He's never played a snap at defensive back, and they wanted him to come as they felt he could step in as a freshman at corner for them and he probably could.
