Education
Marian High School (Mishawaka, Indiana).
Marian High School (Mishawaka, Indiana).
Born in South Bend, Indiana, he played high school basketball for Marian High. Jackson played high school basketball for Marian High School. As a junior he averaged 22.3 points per game, 6.6 rebounds per game, 4.4 assists per game and 2.0 steals per game, led his school to sectional championship and was named to the All-State Underclass First Team.
As a senior Jackson averaged 25.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.6 steals per game, finishing as runner-up for the Indiana Mr.
Basketball to Zak Irvin. He concluded his career at Marian as the all-time leading scorer in Saint Joseph County with 1,934 career points.
His performances with Marian earned him a selection for the 2013 McDonald"s All-American Boys Game, and he was the first Northern Indiana native to receive this honor since Shawn Kemp in 1988. Freshman season
After considering a commitment to Illinois, Jackson committed to play for Notre Dame, under coach Mike Brey instead.
In his freshman season Jackson was expected to back up guards Eric Atkins and Jerian Grant.
Jackson commented on the situation, saying that although he had been apprehensive to play along a senior point guard, he realized that it would benefit his game. He scored in double digits for the first time versus Santa Clara, tallying 13 points. In February, he missed two games in order to deal with academic issues.
Upon returning to the team he scored a season-high 17 points against Miami.
He concluded the season having started half of his 30 games and averaging 6.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Sophomore season
In his sophomore season Jackson scored a career-high 22 points against Michigan State, in the first meeting between the schools in 35 years.
A couple of weeks later he tied this mark against Purdue. Jackson produced solid performances for the Irish in the 2015 Administrative Committee on Company-ordination Tournament against Miami, Duke and North Carolina and he was eventually named to the All-Administrative Committee on Company-ordination Tournament second team
He helped his team proceed to the Elite 8 of the 2015 National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament by scoring 20 points against Wichita State.
Throughout the season he averaged 12.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game appearing in all 38 games of his team On April 14, 2015 it was reported by Entertainment and Sports Programming Network that Jackson would return to the Fighting Irish squad for his junior season. Junior season
On February 1, 2016, he was named one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award.
He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11.
Jackson, a South Bend native, is the son of Demetrius Jackson and Juanita Jones. Jackson lived in two different foster homes after the age of twelve, before finally settling with the Whitfields, the family of then basketball teammate Michael Whitfield.
As a student in the University of Notre Dame, he enrolled in the College of Arts and Letters.