Jackson has developed into one of most complete jumpers in the country, despite coaching himself for majority of career

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Football was going to be the future for Jalyn Jackson, until that future flipped upside down.

Jackson didn’t walk away from football, mind you. Rather, he ran – or, perhaps more appropriately, leapt – toward track and field.

One of the premier jumpers in the country, despite only having a jumps coach for one season during his high school career, the Eastlake CA senior continues to build momentum for what he hopes is a banner senior season.

JALYN JACKSON INTERVIEW

He’s already served some notice, posting meet-record marks of 48 feet, 8 inches (14.83m) in the triple jump and 24-5.50 (7.45m) in the long jump to win both titles Feb. 17 at the California Winter Outdoor Championships at Arcadia High.

He followed Saturday with a personal-best 49-2.50 (15.00m) in the triple jump at the Sweetwater Relays at Sweetwater High, a performance that ranks fourth in the country this year entering the 39th ASICS/Mt. Carmel Invitational this Saturday at Mt. Carmel High.

Jackson is already California’s returning state runner-up in the triple jump. The goals for the University of California commit this year are simple, yet lofty – 25 feet in the long jump, 50 feet in the triple jump and qualification for the Pan-American U20 Championships.

“That’s probably my main goal,” he said, “to qualify for that.”

As for that football thing? Yeah, he was still pretty good at that, too.

He was Eastlake’s top receiver, catching 26 balls for 686 yards – a whopping 26.4 yards per catch – and nine touchdowns while leading the Titans to the CIF-San Diego Section Division 1 championship game.

Yet, Jackson couldn’t wait to get back on the track.

“For me, I thought I was a football player running track, but that soon changed around my sophomore year,”  he said. “Really, it was just football helping me stay conditioned for track, ironically. And, you know, just keeping my body movements and quick feet and stuff like that and just staying in shape – especially since we went so far in the season, I didn’t really have enough time to rest. I think that’s a good thing.”

High school track has been nothing but a good thing for Jackson, thanks to eye-popping improvements each year.

Jackson was born in San Diego and moved to Ventura County at the age of 10, where, for four years, he ran for the Camarillo Cosmos youth club. He arrived at Eastlake in Chula Vista as a freshman believing he was going to be a hurdler. The triple jump, in which he hit 39-11 (12.16m) that season, was a side event.

“I just kept doing it, because, you know, ‘Why not?’ and score some points for my team.”

The tide really turned his sophomore year – the only season he had a jumps coach – under the tutelage of jumps coach Jermaine Peacock. Jackson added six feet to his triple jump mark that season, hitting 45-0.50 (13.73m) at the CIF-San Diego Section finals.

“You could already tell he was a natural talent,” Peacock said. “He needed to overcome his belief in what he could and could not do.”

First and foremost, Peacock moved the mark on the Eastlake runway back from 32 feet to 40 feet, then to 42 to “create a challenge just to get to the sand,” he said.

In the triple jump, Peacock said the key was breaking it down into the three phases and working from there.

“It was just getting him to perform the phases – the half step and jumps – again and again,” he said. “We did a lot of lunging in the field, did a lot scissor-kicks. We did of making sure his knee was up.”

Technique was so important, such as teaching how to strike his foot on his jumps so all the force didn’t go into the ground.

Peacock compared it skipping a rock across water.

Sensing his capability, Peacock said they worked on building distance to each phase.

Suddenly, adding six feet wasn’t so hard.

“That’s how you do it,” he said. “Two feet on each of the phases.”

Peacock said he also hit the mental side of jumping, using goals and a go-to motivational quote he can recite on request.

“Good, better, best; never let it rest ‘till your good is better and your better is best.”

Jackson still leans on Peacock via text messages and occasional phone calls.

“There’s just so much that people don’t know and understand about the triple jump,” Jackson said. “It’s so slept on; not many people pay attention to it. I kind of like that aspect of it and just surprising people with what you can do in three steps.”

Jackson’s long jump of 24-5.50 makes him a bona fide state-title contender in both events. He was already on the podium in the long jump last year with a sixth-place mark of 23-2.25 (7.07m). He was a runner-up in the triple jump, where he looks forward to a potential back-and-forth battle with the event’s defending champion, CJ Stevenson of Great Oak, including Saturday at Mt. Carmel.

“I know he’s been one of those high competitors, and I feel like with me being the progressive person that I am, it’s going to be a good matchup this season,” Jackson said. “Even though I don’t know him, I’m proud of what we both accomplished, especially at state, being juniors, and going 1 and 2.”

It’s all added up for Jackson into a Pac-12 scholarship with limitless potential.

“I just think it’s all about the personal goals you set for yourself,” Jackson said. “You know what you can do and you know the best you can do it.”