Jackson shows Berry-like gifts

KNOXVILLE -- First-year Tennessee secondary coach Willie Mack Garza jokingly interrupted Janzen Jackson's media interview Monday night, reminding reporters that one of his most prized pupils was still a pup.

"Y'all are asking him too many questions," Garza said with a grin. "He ain't done that much yet. He ain't that good yet."

The ballyhooed freshman safety from Louisiana doesn't seem that far away, though. Not according to Garza's boss, anyway.

"It's going to sound crazy, but there are some things Janzen does better than Eric (Berry) sometimes," UT head coach Lane Kiffin said Tuesday afternoon.

Berry, of course, is the Volunteers' junior All-America safety, who some NFL analysts have called the game's best defensive back prospect in years.

"(Jackson) is not the player Eric is yet. We all know that," Kiffin said. "But he's got the potential to be a great player."

At a wiry 6-foot, 184 pounds, Jackson quickly emerged this summer as one of the best athletes in a secondary full of impressive runners, jumpers and lifters.

But natural ability alone didn't cause his meteoric rise up the depth chart. Jackson, the son of Miami (Ohio) assistant football coach Lance Guidry, enrolled at UT with a solid foundation of fundamentals and schematic knowledge.

The five-star prospect hopes to follow his father's footsteps and coach after he finishes playing the game, and he cited learning defense under Vols coordinator Monte Kiffin as the biggest reason he spurned a yearlong commitment with LSU and signed with UT in February.

"I think he's going to be an All-American player, as long as he stays healthy and keeps practicing hard and preparing hard," Kiffin said of Jackson. "He's already one of our hardest guys at practice. He gets it.

"His dad's done a great job raising him. His dad is a ball coach that was very tough on him and very demanding, and Janzen gets it."

Athleticism helps, too. Kiffin said coaches decided during preseason camp that Jackson "had to start somewhere," and that he was good enough to be a first-team cornerback or safety. LSU recruited Jackson as a corner, but UT had more depth issues at safety.

"Eric could (play both), obviously, but you wouldn't think to do that with him," Kiffin said. "And Janzen is lighter, too, so that helps. He's incredible that way.

"We kept him at safety only because he'd been practicing out there, and it was easier for Dennis (Rogan) to go out there because he was an older guy and had played more corner in his career."

Jackson has suffered from growing pains -- he missed two crucial third-down tackles in the 19-15 loss to UCLA two weeks ago -- but his progress has been just as noticeable. He's already considered the team's best special-teams playmaker and a deft kickoff wedge-buster, and he collected a career-high six tackles in Saturday's 23-13 loss at UCLA. He also had produced one of the game's most crucial and exciting plays by viciously separating wide receiver Brandon James from the ball on a third-and-goal late in the second quarter. The Gators settled for a field goal and a 13-6 halftime lead.

Jackson started that play covering a different Gator, Chris Rainey, but he saw Tebow break containment, roll out and look toward James in the back of the end zone.

"It was just instincts, I guess you could say," Jackson said. "I tried to make a play on the ball ... but settled for the hit."

Jackson's hit on James may have conjured up memories of Berry's big hits, but the freshman surrenders 20 pounds to his idol despite being at least one inch taller. Jackson does have better fluidity, though, according to Kiffin.

"He has looser hips," Kiffin said. "Eric is a straight-ahead hitter sometimes. Eric can cover and hit and do everything, but Janzen's got phenomenal hips."

Jackson said it's "an unbelievable honor" to start alongside Berry as a true freshman, but Berry sees similar potential in the freshman.

"He reminds me a lot of myself," Berry said. "That's the scary thing about it. He started out this season in nickel, and then he started out the second game at safety.

"That's pretty much exactly what I did as a freshman."

Jackson even jumped too early while trying to defend a pass over his head against UCLA, much like Berry did as a true freshman at Florida.

"That's a really creepy thing in my eyes, just to see how much we're alike," Berry said. "But he does a lot of things better than I did as a freshman. People say things like this all the time, but the sky really is the limit for him."