Donovan Jackson (born December 4, 2002) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

, winning the 2024 national championship prior to being selected by the Vikings in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Early life

Jackson was born on December 4, 2002, in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and attended Episcopal High School in

Bellaire, Texas Bellaire is a city in southwestern Harris County, Texas, United States, within the metropolitan area.. Retrieved on January 24, 2010. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city population was 17,202. It is surrounded by th ...

. He was rated a five-star recruit and committed to play college football at Ohio State over offers from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

College career

Jackson played in all 13 of the Buckeyes' games during his freshman season. He was named a starter at guard going into his sophomore year. Jackson was named first-team All-Big Ten at the end of the season.

Professional career

Jackson was selected by the

with the 24th overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bioOhio State Buckeyes profile
2002 births Living people People from Bellaire, Texas Players of American football from Harris County, Texas American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Ohio State Buckeyes football players Minnesota Vikings players {{offensive-lineman-stub