And to think Navy men's soccer senior
David Jackson, a highly-impactful impactful midfielder for the Midshipmen since the beginning of his collegiate soccer journey, contemplated giving up his beloved sport in the middle of his senior year of high school.
Before Jackson became the 2020-21 Patriot League Rookie of the Year, a second-team all-conference selection in the fall of 2021 and the league's Midfielder of the Year in 2022, he was a barely-recruited prospect with undeniable skills.
Jackson also was undeniably undersized for a good portion of his youth, including his teen years spent playing with the U.S. Soccer Development Academy's Houston Dynamo club.
"I was looking at different [colleges], and my sights got lower and lower," Jackson recalled. "It got to the point where around Christmastime in my senior year [at iSchool High, a chartered public school], I was down to looking at a couple of possible Division III opportunities. I was considering quitting soccer entirely, just enrolling at the University of Houston and moving on."
But a twist of fate intervened and Jackson's future changed dramatically as a result.
Then-Navy assistant coach Paul Killian had traveled to Texas in February 2020, mainly to watch
Cristian Coelho – who had already committed to Navy – compete against an MLS academy opponent from Austin. Killian was struck by some booming, accurate passes by Coelho's teammate, a Dynamo midfielder named Jackson, who had experienced some growth spurts that had pushed his height near his current 5-foot-9 stature.
"Paul called me and said that we needed to get this guy [Jackson]. I pulled up some YouTube clips of him and was like, 'Whoa,'" Navy head coach
Tim O'Donohue said. "David was a little under-developed physically, not the most athletic guy, but his skills and his soccer IQ jumped out at you. We knew he was a good player when he committed to Navy but we did not know he was going to be this good."
After Killian's home visit, Jackson came to Annapolis for his official visit and quickly committed to the Midshipmen.
"I had less than two weeks to finish my application [seeking an appointment to the academy]. It was very late in the process," Jackson said. "My mentality was, if I don't play at Navy, that's fine. I just want to enjoy soccer again. I am still grateful for every day I get to play soccer."
As the 2023 regular season enters its homestretch, Navy, at 5-6-3 overall, is in the thick of Patriot League contention with a 2-2-2 conference record. With Jackson leading the way once again, the Mids are trying to become the first Navy team to win back-to-back conference championships and get to a second-straight NCAA Tournament since joining the league over 30 years ago.
As the last player signed in a Class of 2024 that now nears Senior Night on Saturday, Jackson has started all 14 games for the Mids this season and leads Navy with 21 points on eight goals and five assists, ranking first on the team and second in the league in all three categories.
An exceptional passer since the day he reported for plebe summer in 2020, Jackson has thrived additionally as a scorer with a position alteration this fall. Instead of playing as a deeper, between-the-boxes midfielder, Jackson moved up to the attacking midfield spot, which gets him closer to the opposing goal.
Jackson, who has started 54 of 58 games played, arrived as a surprisingly advanced product in the summer of 2020. Over his four productive years with Navy, Jackson has been in charge of corner kicks, free kicks and penalty-kick duties, as he is 7-for-7 over the past two seasons at the penalty-kick line.
Following his unexpected luck by ending up at Navy, Jackson wasted no time rewarding his new teammates. In a preseason exhibition as a freshman, Jackson came off the bench to score a goal in a 3-2 win at No. 3 Virginia. Three weeks later in the opener of a shortened seven-game 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the visiting Mids dealt North Carolina a 2-1 loss, with Jackson tallying two goals and an assist.
As a sophomore, he played a career-high 1,381 minutes and played eight full games with 17 points, second-best on the team. He also tied for the team lead with seven assists during that 2021 season. Jackson then led the Mids in 2022 to the league championship and the NCAA Tournament with six goals and 15 points and a team-best three game-winning goals.
In 2023, Jackson's offensive game has been as economic as ever. He has taken just 24 shots, and his .333 shooting percentage is easily Navy's best, with two-thirds of his shots being on goal. Then there is his steadily-improved tackling, his durable body that has gotten stronger and quicker each year and that eye-catching passing reach.
"I still picture David at about age 14 [with Houston Dynamo]," Coelho said. "He was the first person I had ever seen launch a ball 40-plus yards accurately, and it is still a staple of his game."
"David's deliveries are pretty much on a dime. He gives us real good opportunities to score," Coelho added. "He thinks about tactics at a high level. His sprints to win balls, he gets into tackles the right way. His intensity and composure on the field just fuels our team's confidence."
O'Donohue raves about Jackson's tireless work ethic and how that has translated into his improvement each year in sprint times, vertical leap and overall strength and endurance. At 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, Jackson is a long way from the skinny 5-foot-1 kid he was in the ninth grade.
It is not unusual for Jackson to play all 90 minutes of a match, despite his activity in the middle of the field and the amount of attention – and fouls – he attracts as the heart of the Mids.
"I still need to kick David out of our training sessions the day before games, he is the prototype of a guy who excels in all areas," said O'Donohue, who also points to Jackson's Patriot League Academic Honor Roll member last year. "We want guys who really love the game – play it, watch it, live it – while excelling academically and getting their work done in Bancroft Hall."
"David sets the tone for us," O'Donohue added. "He warms up properly, stays late for video work. On many Sundays, he is alone on the practice field with a bag of balls, working on finishing with small goals and getting in extra running. David is so driven and hard on himself that I have to tell him to ease off at times. He is probably the most introspective player I've had in my 20 years of coaching."
"Growing up [in the Houston suburb of Cypress, Texas], I was always the smallest kid on the field," Jackson said. "When you're not able to compete the way you want to physically, you have to learn to be smarter, play faster, develop better technical skills. I still don't think I'm that strong, but I'm able to hold my own."
O'Donohue also said Jackson has attracted attention from numerous professional teams and potential agents.
Jackson played his first two seasons at Navy with Matt Nocita, who graduated from Navy in 2022 and was the Patriot League's three-time Defensive Player of the Year before being picked No. 7 pick in the MLS Super Draft by the New York Red Bulls.
As an English major on schedule to graduate in May and be commissioned a U.S. Naval Officer, Jackson says soccer in his blood. His father, Chad Jackson, played the sport at Furman from 1989 to 1993, while his older brother, Zach, played soccer at Tulsa (2014-15) before finishing up at Furman (2016-17).
Jackson recalls how soccer started to grab him by second grade, when he watched endless clips of legendary Portuguese pro Cristiano Ronaldo, trying to copy some of his dazzling antics.
"I was obsessed with learning how to do stepovers and things like that," Jackson said. "I wanted to be like Ronaldo and be a professional soccer player. It seems like I've always had the ability to strike a ball and hit it to the other side of the field right on a teammate's foot."
Jackson, who wanted to be a Navy pilot after joining the academy, says a spinal condition detected in an MRI as a junior landed him on the restricted line. He aims to serve his country as an intelligence officer, but the thought of joining Nocita in the pro ranks has grown increasingly appealing to him as well.
"When Matt was getting looked at by the pros a couple of years ago, I asked myself 'Is that something I want to do?' I never considered it seriously," Jackson said. "I'm at the Naval Academy. I want to do my job and serve my country. I'm content with that thought, but I have come around to a place where, if the opportunity presented itself, I'd want to take that next step as a soccer player."
"Right now, the most important thing is everything there is to do this season that is ahead of us," the midfielder added. "It's a special privilege to be here and to play soccer. I'm just soaking it all in. I'm just trying to leave everything on the field every time I play."
