Prospect Profile: Khyree Jackson, CB, Oregon

Context

JUCO transfer to Alabama, back-up CB for two years, transferred to Oregon for Senior year. One-year starter, played the vast majority of his time at outside CB.

Coverage

He excels in any kind of press coverage. He is able to deploy his long levers to make the WR release around him as well as being able to flip hips quickly and stay in phase through the early portion of the route. He is calm and patient in press, he doesn’t over-react to WRs’ moves off the line generally, he has good foot speed and reactive athleticism when they do make a move. He’s also patient with his hands when pressing with a jam and again can use his length to keep the WR at bay. Big WRs who match his length and have good technique can clear their hands initially but he’ll fight and can re-engage quickly to continue to disrupt the timing of the route. He has excellent footwork to match angles with even elite competition when he’s in soft press. A more emphasized, wider pressure step at the line of scrimmage can get his hips turned when the competition is very good vertically, it normally means he’s giving up a step of separation for the rest of the route if the WR is a good athlete. He is an explosive athlete with fluid hips and good mechanics so he competes in man coverage on most type of routes. He can flip his hips easily and turn and run with go routes with relative ease against most competition. Those with elite acceleration can gain separation in the 10-20 yards section of the route but he does have good recovery speed to get back into the rep. His processing in terms of reading receivers and his hip mobility allow him to stay in phase on deep crossers and posts. He reacts well to hitches and comebacks, he’s able to drop his weight and has good drive mechanics to stay close at the top of the route. Where he will struggle is against those receivers with a consistent stem, the know-how to attack leverage and are not fearful of stemming right into him, they can gain separation at the top of routes. But it is the most technically gifted receivers that really challenge him. He processes well in Zone coverage and understands route progressions. The blind spot for his processing exists in Banjo coverage when reacting to stack formations, he can be confused by it and it will leave him flat-footed. His ball skills are good, he has good timing to break up the pass but not consistent accuracy. Strangely for a guy his size and with his length, he can be boxed out by savvy receivers with good body control. This is a variation on a theme for him though that while his size and length help him in many areas of his game, he has not yet developed his play strength to enable him to win consistently in different phases of the route against receivers who have very good play strength..

Run Support

He will insert himself against the run with aggression and physicality. He can explode towards the ball carrier and can make plays because of this. He is lacking in technique though in several areas. He doesn’t take on blocks with his hands, he triggers well on bubble screens but can take bad angles and over-pursue, and this can also be true in the open field. His tackling is too often with a shoulder thrown in rather than with solid technique.

SUMMARY
Long, tall, athletic CB with only one year of starting experience but with good reason. Very good in man coverage, needs to work on skills at the catch-point, tackling, run defense.

PRODUCTION 
SR: 3 To. Tackles, 3 INTs, 8 PBUs, 2 Sacks
Injury: Dislocated shoulder & torn labrum at end of SR season

RAVENS FIT
Athleticism 4
Intelligence 3
Versatility 3
Grit 3
Scheme 3