Tayven Jackson's Recruitment to IU Seemed Quick, but Relationship with Allen was Built Early

image: Twitter.com

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

To an outsider it seemed that Tayven Jackson’s transfer to Indiana took a matter of days. There was a message board rumor, then a visit and finally a commitment. It took less than a week to hit all of those steps. However, to those inside the Indiana program, the process spanned years of relationship building.

“We've been recruiting (Tayven) ever since he was young coming through there at Center Grove and had built that relationship with him and always enjoyed our conversations.” Indiana head coach Tom Allen said last weekend.

Allen and Jackson developed their relationship early in the process with phone calls and conversations every Sunday.

“Early in the process we can't reach out to them. They have to be able to reach out to us. So we had a scheduled time. He called me every Sunday afternoon, and loved those talks we had together.” Allen explained. “But he would have to initiate that in terms of he would have to call me. So he was always awesome with that when he was only a sophomore in high school and just coming through the ranks.”

Allen and his staff have built a program and recruiting philosophy based on their ability to build strong relationships. This was the case with Jackson.

Allen said he “just built that with his family, and obviously made a decision, but we recruited him hard. You felt like -- it happened pretty quickly when he made the decision to go in the portal and then reached out to us, but bottom line was we already had that relationship built.”

Jackson did not commit to Allen and the Hoosiers out of high school, instead heading to the Tennessee Volunteers where he played in three games this past season.

All of the groundwork laid by Allen and his staff paid off when Jackson entered the transfer portal on January 13th and took a visit on January 15th. Allen, IU offensive coordinator Walt Bell and Jackson were seen at Assembly Hall taking in IU’s men’s basketball game against Wisconsin. A game in which his brother Trayce Jackson-Davis, lead IU to a victory over the Badgers.

The Hoosiers are getting a talented, albeit inexperienced quarterback, in Jackson.

“What we liked about him was his athleticism. He's a long athlete, multisport guy, basketball, track, all three of those, and just felt like that he could create with his legs, with his arm. He's a tremendous leader.” Allen said.

The Hoosiers “have a lot of close ties to their staff and know them well, which allows us to know him even better, the behind the scenes leadership piece that he brought and the confidence and the swagger that he brings to a room when he walks in there. Those are things you're looking for in a quarterback, the ability to throw the football and run the football, has had dual effectiveness in high school and then you saw that even this past year playing the time that he played at Tennessee.” Allen added.

The Hoosiers are slated to start spring practice on March 4th and will have four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. However, Dexter Williams, is likely not going to participate and IU’s other two quarterbacks Brenden Sorsby and Broc Lowry have played a combined one half of college football.

Jackson, a redshirt freshman, should have an ample opportunity to show the staff and his teammates he can be IU’s answer at quarterback in 2023 and beyond.