Jackson inspired by Texas Tech coaches Whitt, Patrick

Amarillo (Texas) defensive tackle Ivory Jackson left Lubbock feeling more confident in his commitment than before he arrived. Jackson made his official visit last weekend along with many other members of Tech’s 2016 recruiting class and doesn’t anticipate visiting anywhere else.

The 6-foot-4, three-star product enjoyed his weekend being hosted by linebacker D’Vonta Hinton with his favorite moment being a family-style dinner involving all the recruits, coaches, and a few other Tech athletes.

Jackson remains focused on beginning practices for the International Bowl, which is less than a week away. With the hiring of strength and condition coordinator Rusty Whitt, Jackson also is looking to prepare himself mentally and physically for the Red Raiders’ workouts with a new plan issued during his visit.

Thoughts on time with defensive line coach Kevin Patrick:

“I spent a lot of time with coach Patrick, it was awesome -- he reminds me of my old coach before he retired last year, he reminds me of a younger version of him so its great to see all that. I can’t wait to be coached by him next year.”

Initial reaction to strength and conditioning coordinator Rusty Whitt:

“He told us we’re going to heavy-lift every day but we’re going to do like small, little things that are going to help out your ankles, stretch out your ankles – work on your ankles. So that it takes the pressure off your knees and stuff like that. I kind of thought that was pretty cool.

“I loved everything about what he said. It’s pretty cool, when we were lifting – it was lifting but it was also high-tempo stuff – they were doing hang cleans; they were doing stuff for their ankles; they were doing stuff for their knees and their back. It was pretty cool. They were doing some stuff I’ve never seen before.”

Jackson, like most of his classmates, had nothing but positives to say about his official visit over the weekend. He's another soon-to-be signee that's made mention of Rusty Whitt's S&C program as well, and he's already taking steps to be ready for it in June. -Will McKay