With Senior Bowl week upon us, the Raiders are looking for severe upgrades in the secondary. The Raider scouts are out in full effect, attempting to find players who fit in the Paul Guenther system, which will lead to an improvement in the opening season in Las Vegas. One of the best corners at the Senior Bowl this year is Dane Jackson from Pittsburgh.
At 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Dane Jackson, dubbed “Action Jackson” in high school, was a star basketball and football player. Jackson was only a three-star recruit coming out of high school but has achieved a successful college career. A three-year starter, Jackson played over 2760 snaps and allowed a completion percentage of 47 percent, displaying his stickiness in tight coverage. At the senior bowl, I got to have a quick chat with him during media day.
Q: When you were at Pitt, you guys played a lot of press coverage, and you thrived against top competition. Talk about the competition you face playing in the ACC?
Playing against those receivers every day, I feel like it prepared me and got me to this level. There’s a lot of top receivers in the ACC. Teams sleep on the ACC cause they’re not a lot of other big conferences out there. But you know, we got top dogs, and they like to spread the ball out, and they like to give us a challenge every week.
Q: What were some of your favorite match-ups in the ACC? Some of the players you’d like to go against to challenge yourself.
Players like, you know, Dyami Brown from North Carolina, Tristan Jackson from Syracuse they always got good receivers(Syracuse) just guy’s like that, you know, they give you a challenge and let you show what you got on the field.
Q: What were a few of your favorite moments at Pitt and the best situations that you played in?
The upset against Clemson my redshirt freshman year, playing in the ACC championship. You know it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted, but making a spark, you know, for the next generations of players who come to Pitt, you know, that was a big moment for us.
Q: Talk about the history of Pitt because Pitt has a history of great college football. Players like Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett. What were the reasons that you ended up going to that school?
Just like you said, history is essential. You want to be around those types of guys. They are legends, you know, when you walk in the building, we see those lessons every single day. The pictures of those guys there’s just straight motivation, and a lot of those guys are from Pittsburgh too. So, yeah, me being from Pittsburgh staying home and keeping that history around.
Q: What do you feel like your best strengths are? I know press coverage is one of them, but what are other things that you think you do really well?
You know, tackle. I know I can tackle very well. Come down. I’m not afraid to hit anybody. I’m not, I’m not the biggest guy. I don’t weigh the most, but I’ll stick my nose in here as much as I can.
Q: The Raiders are moving to Las Vegas and definitely are looking for help in the secondary after having one of the worst pass defenses in the league. How would you feel going to Las Vegas and playing out there, especially with the no state taxes?
I mean, any opportunity for me, I can’t complain. You know, I’ve made it this far. I’m just looking for an opportunity.
Q: One of my favorite games I watched was you against UCF. When you traveled over to Gabe Davis mid-game, who is seen as NFL prospect. Talk about shutting him down for the rest of the match up?
He’s a good receiver. I was going to consider training with him in the offseason. He’s a big, muscular, fast guy, and that’s what my team needed me to do. So I went over there and got it done,
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