Simone Peyton Jackson (born January 28, 2003) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL). She played college soccer for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

. She has represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the youth international level.

Early life and college career

Jackson was born and raised in

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ) is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent Beach Cities, beach c ...

. She began playing soccer with an

AYSO The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) is one of the two main national organizations in youth soccer in the United States for children aged 4 through 19. AYSO was established as a non-profit soccer organization in Torrance (a suburb of ...

team at age four. She attended

Bishop Montgomery High School Bishop Montgomery High School (commonly referred to as "BMHS" or simply "Bishop" by students) is a Catholic high school serving twenty-five parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. BMHS was founded in 1957, and staffed by the Sisters of St. ...

, where she played for the soccer, tennis, and track teams, and co-founded the school's

Black Student Union In higher education in the United States, a Black Student Union (BSU) is an organization of Black students, generally with a focus on protest. Historically functioning as a Black counterpart to the largely white organization Students for a Democra ...

. She played club soccer for So Cal Blues, winning the

ECNL The Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) is a national youth soccer developmental league in the United States. It was founded in 2009 as a girls' league and added a boys' league in 2017. Competition format The ECNL is divided by age groups from U- ...

under-15 national championship in 2017, before moving to Slammers FC, where she was named ECNL All-American in 2019 and 2021. She committed to

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

when she was a freshman. She was ranked by ''

TopDrawerSoccer TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was la ...

'' as the third-best recruit of her class.

USC Trojans

Jackson scored 5 goals and added 8 assists in 20 games (8 starts) in her freshman season with the

in 2021, earning second-team All- Pac-12 honors. She scored a late equalizer in a 2–2 draw against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

in the second round of the NCAA tournament, but they lost on

penalty kicks A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. T ...

. She missed two games in her sophomore season while at the

2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup () was the 10th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its ...

but returned to start the last 16, scoring 6 goals with 3 assists, and was named first-team All-Pac-12. She scored 5 goals in 15 games (10 starts) in her junior season in 2023, being named second-team All-Pac-12. In her senior season in 2024, she scored 6 goals with 2 assists in 22 games (17 starts), earning third-team All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

honors. USC won their first-ever outright regular-season title, doing so in their first year in the Big Ten Conference. Jackson scored in four of her last five college games, including in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, where she also made her penalty in shootout loss to Wake Forest after a 2–2 draw.

Club career

Orlando Pride

Jackson was invited to train as a non-roster player with the

in the 2025 preseason. She signed her first professional contract with the Pride on May 29, inking a deal through the 2028 NWSL season.

International career

Jackson was first called up to the United States youth national team at the under-14 level in 2016. She played

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

at the under-15, under-16, and under-17 levels, but her age group's

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an annual (biennial until 2024) international women's association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA) ...

was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. When youth international play resumed, she helped the

win the

2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-20 national teams of the North, Central ...

, scoring six goals in six games (four starts). She played in two games off the bench at the

, scoring in a 3–1 loss to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, as the United States failed to make it out of the group stage. She was called up to the under-23 team to play against NWSL competition in the 2023 preseason.

Personal life

Jackson is the middle of three children born to Ann-Frances McLyn and John Jackson Jr. Her father is a sports commentator who played professional football and minor league baseball in the 1990s, having also played both sports at USC. Her older brother, John Jackson III, played wide receiver at USC before being signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. Her grandfather, John Jackson Sr., was on the coaching staff for the

USC Trojans football The USC Trojans football program represents the University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate ...

team in the 1970s.

Honors and awards

USC Trojans *

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

: 2024 United States U20 *

CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship is an association football competition for women's national under-20 teams in the North America, Central America and Caribbean region. It serves as the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 Women's ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual *All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

: 2022 (first team); 2021, 2023 (second team) *Third-team All-

: 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Simone Living people 2003 births 21st-century American sportswomen Soccer players from California American women's soccer players African-American soccer players Women's association football forwards United States women's youth international soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players USC Trojans women's soccer players Women's Premier Soccer League players Orlando Pride players National Women's Soccer League players