Lawrence Christopher Jackson (born August 30, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was drafted by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

in the first round of the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

. He is referred to as LJ or LoJack.

High school career

Jackson played football and ran track at Inglewood High School in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

. In 2002, Jackson was a consensus prep All-America, All-West, All-State, All-City and All-League selection as well as his league's MVP. He had 142 tackles, with 11 sacks, plus 4 fumble recoveries and 2 interceptions in 2002 while playing defensive line and middle linebacker. As a junior in 2001, he was All-City and All-League and his league's Defensive Player of the Year. He had 134 tackles, including 22 sacks, plus 2 interceptions (1 returned for a TD), 7 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and 3 blocked kicks in 2001. Inglewood made it to the 2001

CIF Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries. Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...

Division X semi-finals. During his 2000 sophomore season, Inglewood advanced to the CIF Division X finals. For his career, he had 57 sacks. Jackson applied to be the head coach for Inglewood High School in 2014, losing out on the job to his former coach Jason Miller.

College career

Jackson played college football for the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

and was a 4-year starter for the Trojans starting 51 of 52 games.

Philip Rivers Philip Michael Rivers (born December 8, 1981) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Chargers franchise. He played college football at NC State and was sele ...

(NC State) is the only other player in NCAA history to start 51 games. In 2007 Jackson was an AP All-American second-team selection, Collegefootballnews.com All-American third-team, All-Pac-10 first-team (making it for the second time after being so honored in 2005), ESPN.com All-Pac-10 first-team, Collegefootballnews.com All-Pac-10 first-team, and the

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

All-Pac-10 first-team. Jackson was on the 2007 Street and Smiths and

Phil Steele's Phil Steele (c. 1960) is an American sportswriter and analyst who focuses exclusively on college and professional football. He is considered a "highly respected prognosticator" within the sports media. His company, Phil Steele Publications, prod ...

preseason All-American first-team and on the

Ted Hendricks Award The Ted Hendricks Award is given annually to college football's top defensive end. The award is named after Ted Hendricks, a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame, and is presented by his own foundation. In ...

and Bednarik Award watch lists. He was on the 2006

Lombardi Award The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lombar ...

Bednarik Award The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and professional Americ ...

and

Bronko Nagurski Trophy The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been awarded annually since 1993 to the collegiate American football defensive player adjudged by the membership of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be the best in the National Collegiate Athle ...

watch lists and 2006 Athlon and Street & Smith's Walter Camp preseason All-American. He fell to Second-team Rivals.com and coaches All-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

in 2006. He totaled only 4 sacks in 2006, off from his first two years at USC. He led the team with 10 sacks in 2005. He also had 46 tackles. He was a 2005 Rivals.com Third-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n. He was First-team All-

and on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's First-team All-Pac-10 team. Jackson started at defensive end as a redshirt freshman in 2004. He played in 13 games (12 starts). He made the 2004 Collegefootballnews.com Freshman All-American first-team,

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

and

Freshman All-American second-teams. He had 32 tackles (11 for a loss) and 6 sacks. Jackson redshirted as a true freshman in 2003. He won USC's Service Team Defensive Player of the Year award. After the season, he had arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle to remove debris.

College career statistics

Key: GP - games played; GS - games started; TT - total tackles; T/L - tackles for a loss; FR - fumbles recovered; PD - passes deflected; Int - interceptions

Professional career

Measurables

Seattle Seahawks

Jackson was selected in the first round with the 28th pick in the 2008 NFL draft by the

. He was the fourth defensive end taken in the first round (behind

Chris Long Christopher Howard Long (born March 28, 1985) is a former American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. The son of Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long and older brother of NFL guard Kyle Lon ...

Vernon Gholston Vernon Gholston (born June 5, 1986) is a former American football defensive end. He played college football at Ohio State and was drafted sixth overall by the New York Jets in the 2008 NFL Draft. Gholston was also a member of the Chicago Bears a ...

, and

Derrick Harvey Derrick Harvey (born November 9, 1986) is a former American football defensive end. He played college football for the University of Florida, and was a member of a BCS National Championship team. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in ...

). Jackson had a disappointing 2008 season as he finished with 29 tackles and 2 sacks. However, he did play every game of the season. After the season, Jackson said that he was looking to improve.

Detroit Lions

On August 18, 2010, Jackson was traded to the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

for a 6th-round pick in the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

.Lions Send 6th-Round Pick To Seattle For Lawrence Jackson
PrideofDetroit.com August 19, 2010 Jackson finished the 2010 season with 34 tackles and 6 sacks, along with a forced fumble while playing only 11 games as the Lions finished 6-10. Jackson was not able to replicate the same results in 2011 or 2012, posting a combined 46 tackles and 7 sacks over the two seasons.

NFL statistics

Key * GP: games played * COMB: combined tackles * TOTAL: total tackles * AST: assisted tackles * SACK: sacks * FF: forced fumbles * FR: fumble recoveries * FR YDS: fumble return yards * INT: interceptions * IR YDS: interception return yards * AVG IR: average interception return * LNG: longest interception return * TD: interceptions returned for touchdown * PD: passes defensed

References

External links

Lombardi Award List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Lawrence 1985 births Living people American football defensive ends Players of American football from Inglewood, California Players of American football from Los Angeles USC Trojans football players Seattle Seahawks players Detroit Lions players Minnesota Vikings players Inglewood High School (California) alumni