At pick 44 in the second round, the Raiders got one of the top interior linemen in the draft. The Rimington Award winner as the best center in college football. They drafted him to play guard (for now) where he fills a big hole on their offensive line.
But let’s get to know the Raiders newest big man in the trenches. Here are five interesting facts about him.
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What’s in a name?
Born Jackson Light. When he was 3, his mother remarried, and his new stepfather (James Johnson) became “Dad” and the man who raised him. When Jackson turned 18, he went to court and legally changed his name to “Jackson James Powers-Johnson” to reflect his mother’s maiden name (Powers) and the close bond with his stepfather.
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Keeping Raiders in the family
His grandparents are from the Bay Area and grew up Raiders fans with season tickets for 20 years. Which undoubtedly brought the excitement to another level when he got the call on draft day from the Raiders. The first ever NFL game he attended was a game between the 49ers and Raiders and he said it “started the dream” for him.
Then, as it happened, the last time he stepped on a football field as a player it came at his now home of Allegiant Stadium. It was the Pac-12 Championship against the Washington Huskies. In the game he laid a key block on a Jordan James go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. Ultimately the Ducks would lose 34-31 to the Huskies with the College Football Playoff on the line. Powers-Johnson opted out of the Fiesta Bowl.
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Credits wrestling for OL skillset
Along with football, Jackson was a three-year letterman in wrestling and baseball. Wrestling in particular helped him with his offensive line duties.
“Wrestling was kind of a huge part of my life,” he said. “Definitely translates in leverage, physicality, and also just straight mental toughness. Wrestling is the hardest sport, so me doing that to prepare for football and really getting that mentality from wrestling, it’s really huge for me. I always tell young kids or football players coming up through the league that they should wrestle, so it was huge in my life.”
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Crazy first for Raiders
He is the first ever Oregon player draft by the Raiders. Certainly plenty of Oregon players have worn Silver & Black, but shockingly they’d never drafted anyone out of Eugene. Until now.
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He’s a hustler (and a character)
He has a page on opendorse in which for nominal fees, he will do a myriad of different things. Or at least he would during his college days. These tasks include: pitch anything or do a shoutout, post on your social media, autograph something, or make an appearance at your event. The prices ranged between $37 and $195. But as of Tuesday, they jumped up to between $63 and $340. https://opendorse.com/profile/jackson-powers-johnson.