Georgia State gets boost from transfer of Bama QB Star Jackson
Star Jackson began last season as the backup quarterback for Alabama (Mark Almond/Birmingham News)
Georgia State’s fledgling football program got an unexpected boost this week with the news that quarterback Star Jackson is transferring from Alabama to play for the Panthers.
It still has to be finalized. Jackson is currently on vacation with his family — possibly in the Atlanta area — and could not be reached for comment. And nothing will be official until Jackson enrolls at GSU around June 14.
But for all practical purposes it is a done deal, according to Errick Lowe, Jackson’s head coach Lake Worth High School and one of his primary confidantes.
“As far as the Georgia State thing goes, as of right now that’s where he’s leaning to,” Lowe said Tuesday. “Classes [at GSU] start on the 14th, so I’m looking for him to be enrolled in school there by the 13th or 14th. I guess he’s going to be playing for Georgia State. That’s where it is right now.”
If you detect a non-commital hint there, Lowe said he just wants to be careful until the transfer is complete.
“It’s not final because he hasn’t signed anything,” Lowe said. “But I know when he gets back I know that’s one of the things . . . he’s going to have to do. But everything kind of leads toward Georgia State.”
Likewise, Georgia State is being careful about its involvement with Jackson, who recently obtained his scholarship release from Alabama. The Panthers declined to confirm or deny whether he intended to transfer to GSU.
“I can only confirm that we have permission to speak to him,” said Allison George, the school’s associate athletics director for communications.
Earlier this week Jackson tweeted that he was looking for housing in Atlanta, according to the Mobile Press-Register. Lowe said he wasn’t sure about that.
So what is the Panthers getting in Jackson?
First of all, they are getting a highly-recruited quarterback who had dozens of scholarship offers before choosing the current national champions. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound athlete was a U.S. Army High School All-American in 2007 and the No. 5-ranked pro-style quarterback in the nation coming out of high school, according to Rivals.com. He passed for more than 3,500 yards and 32 TDs in two seasons at Lake Worth.
But Jackson was never able to get on the field much at Alabama. He was mired behind starter Greg McElroy on the depth chart and actually fell back to third behind redshirt freshman A.J. McCarron toward the end of last season. The Crimson Tide has another talented quarterback in freshman Phillip Sims.
Jackson played in five games as a redshirt freshman, completing 13 of 18 passes for 116 yards.
“It’s just playing time,” Lowe said. “I think he felt like he wasn’t getting an opportunity. He just wanted to get on the field. He felt like transferring might have been the best thing for him.”
There were other issues. Jackson missed a portion of spring practice due to academic problems.
“We have a system around here for academics and guys have to conform to the system,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said of Jackson last March. “When a guy doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do in school, there’s a point where I won’t let him participate until he gets it straightened out.”
Jackson eventually returned to practice. Saban had said very little about Jackson until he acknowledged his departure at a Bama Caravan outing in Mobile two weeks ago.
“Star has made a tremendous amount of improvement and done a very, very good job,” Saban said. “But I think sometimes when quarterbacks can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of when they might be able to play, they get a little antsy and might want to go someplace else. Star and I have discussed it, and we’re going to help him do what he feels is going to make him and his family the best decision for his future. . . . We hate to see any player leave the program, but quarterback’s kind of a unique position where one guy can play and we have a lot of competition there right now.”
So why Georgia State?
Obviously coach Bill Curry has experience and an impeccable reputation. Atlanta is a big city, as is Jackson’s home town of Miami. And the Panthers will compete in the Football Championship Subdivision where Jackson will be immediately eligible with three seasons to play.
But there also is a personal connection. GSU defensive backs coach Anthony Midget was on the staff at Lake Worth High when Jackson played there.
“I think the trust level and him knowing somebody at the institution is one of the things that kind of led him in that direction,” Lowe said.
The really interesting part of this story begins when Jackson gets on the GSU campus. The Panthers already felt pretty good about their quarterback situation with redshirt freshmen Drew Little and Kelton Hill battling it out for starting duties. Now you throw a D-1 transfer into the mix.
And to be clear, Lowe said no promises have been made to Jackson as far as playing time.
The Crimson Tide can only hope Jackson is the starter by Nov. 20. That’s when they host the Panthers in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
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80 comments Add your comment
THWGT!!!
June 1st, 2010
3:18 pm
Congratulations to GSU on a good get.
thwgt
RomeDawg
June 1st, 2010
3:23 pm
Good Luck to the young man! I hope he regains the confidence he needs to be a productive, and maybe the starting, quarterback at GSU. With Bill Curry at the helm, don’t be shocked if they don’t surprise a team or two within a short time. Atlanta residents can now go to a college home game to see a QB with a set of NFL skills. Sorry for the jab Techies.
Dwight
June 1st, 2010
3:34 pm
more like, come over athens and see a quarterback. sorry for the jab, RomeDawg
Dwight
June 1st, 2010
3:34 pm
He is a better q.b. than anything athens has. sucks for u doesn’t it. go “blackout”
Jon
June 1st, 2010
3:35 pm
Welcome to Georgia State Mr. Jackson. Those who actually follow this sport inside out and have kept track of GSU’s first recruiting class know that this won’t be your typical upstart program gasping for air every single game. Will they struggle early on? YES. Can they turn into something special very quickly? YES.
Luke
June 1st, 2010
3:35 pm
Atlanta residents can also see a QB that leads his team to victory. Oh, they had that before…
bamabone
June 1st, 2010
3:44 pm
I thought he looked okay in Alabama’s spring game, but he is certainly making a good decision in terms of his career potential: with McElroy, McCarron, and Sims at Bama, the best Star could hope for was a extremely sloppy 3rds. Good luck to him in Atlanta – until he plays ‘Bama later in the year.
AW
June 1st, 2010
3:47 pm
It still amazes me that these guys are accepted while I meet other students with mid 20’s ACT scores and national honor society membership that don’t get in. Of course, I’m assuming that he wasn’t in the national honor society based on the fact that he can’t even stay in academic shape at a crap school like bama. Good luck staying in gsu.
Unbelievable.
Jon
June 1st, 2010
3:51 pm
@AW – Star is a great kid by all accounts and his academic problems were related to attendance as opposed to grades. Big difference! Better to not comment on something you know little about.
English
June 1st, 2010
3:51 pm
Great job GSU and welcome Star. For all interested in Panther information check out http://www.panthertalk.com
Go State!
I'm a Man, I'm 40
June 1st, 2010
3:53 pm
I thought the Bama morons thought he was going to be the next Joe Namath. Bama fans are ugly and not very bright.
Ted Rutledge
June 1st, 2010
3:55 pm
Jon, Attendance is a big part of getting good grades. That may be the dumbest defense of a kid that had academic issues. Jon, I am embarassed for you.
AW
June 1st, 2010
4:01 pm
… and the excuses and random explanations begin. I was hoping gsu was going to be a different college program than the rest. Looks like not.
I stand by my point – if he can’t succeed academically at bama, he’ll struggle at gsu.
I’m sure the dude’s a genius and deserves to be accepted over someone that doesn’t throw a football but will attend their classes. See it for what it is.
cfarris10
June 1st, 2010
4:01 pm
No one said he was going to be the next Joe Namath. AJ Macarron will be though. We may be dumb and ugly, but Alabama is better than your team, so suck it!
Jon
June 1st, 2010
4:02 pm
Ted, try again. AW’s comment was inferring that someone like Star shouldn’t be accepted into college. Attendance is most definitely a huge part of getting good grades but please don’t pretend that your average college student doesn’t skip a few classes during the course of a semester. The only point I made was that the academic issues weren’t strictly related to grades. So pay a little bit more attention next time.
AW
June 1st, 2010
4:04 pm
BTW – based on the local HS graduation results the following is actually true:
“If you can’t go to college, go to bama.”
It’s the last resort for many of the lower tier grads. Fact.
Jon
June 1st, 2010
4:05 pm
@AW. Random explanations? You are the one making BS assumptions about a situation you clearly know nothing about. And of course you’re right AW, all football players are idiots who don’t deserve to go to college. Stereotype away!!
English
June 1st, 2010
4:06 pm
Go away UGA.
Let’s go State!
AW
June 1st, 2010
4:12 pm
Less than half of college football players graduate while close to 3/4 of all other students complete their studies.
My point is that there are students here in GA graduating with good grades and getting declined by gsu while this “student” athlete with academic problems is accepted no problem. Get it now? Seemed fairly clear to begin with.
Making the Cut
June 1st, 2010
4:20 pm
Alabama has 91 projected scholarship players on it’s roster for 2010. Obviously, even in Alabama this math doesn’t work, so Saban and company are probably happy to get that number down to 90- only 5 more to go. Who gets cut next?
AW is a douche
June 1st, 2010
4:24 pm
Yeah…having more Rhodes Scholars than any other SEC school means we’re all stupid rednecks. Don’t pretend just because you got into UGA back before HOPE made it so tough that you were the Stephen Hawking of Clarke County. Lots of the UGA grads we get here can’t do anything except Facebook.
Pi$$onaDawg
June 1st, 2010
4:25 pm
At least Bama players Transfer, unlike UGA players getting arrested then kickedoff the team.
Chris Eagle
June 1st, 2010
4:26 pm
@AW…. There are a couple of ways to get into most schools. Either you meet certain academic requirements, or you have a certain talent or skill set that you can bring to the school. Grades can be “unforgiven” if you had artistic, musical or athletic talents. Just the facts.
CMR
June 1st, 2010
4:29 pm
I’m a man, I’m 40, You are the moron, a-hole! You’re so slow , it would take you an hour and a half to watch 60 minutes! I asked your wife if she wanted to have sex tonight, she said no , that she would just stay home with you!
Bosshog
June 1st, 2010
4:31 pm
GSU will crush the puppies and nats anyday.
Grumpy
June 1st, 2010
4:31 pm
All colleges make exceptions for students with “special talents”
You jokers act like it’s only athletes that are given exceptions.
Jennifer
June 1st, 2010
4:33 pm
Star never had the work ethic or the academic motivation to succeed at Alabama, but I can see that it would be demoralizing when overshadowed by talents like McElroy, McArron and Sims. I think he has made a good decision, and I hope that a chance of scenery will re-energize him. I wish him the best of luck at GSU (except on 11/20/10) and I hope his time there is the launching point for a long football career.
MTC – every team signs more than it can accommodate, because players get injured, don’t make grades, etc. That isn’t unique to Alabama, or even to football, and a team would be foolish not to have back-ups in order.
Congrats to Star!
June 1st, 2010
4:37 pm
Bill Curry has more class in his little pinkie than Nick Saban has in his entire body.
Good move, Mr. Jackson. You’ll be in a much better place.
Courtney
June 1st, 2010
4:42 pm
Alabama fans repeatedly hold 1 win over us. An 11 point victory. Big whoop!
Panthers!
June 1st, 2010
4:47 pm
Huge pickup for Georgia State. If they can get Star in there quickly this summer and learn the offense they could have an exciting team.
http://thejheykid.com
Blanket Statements
June 1st, 2010
4:52 pm
the only thing worse than the idiot uga fans are the delusional bama fans. I have great respect for both “teams”, but the fans are terrible.
Zeeeeeeee Nachos
June 1st, 2010
4:57 pm
Saban is the man.
Ted Rutledge
June 1st, 2010
5:02 pm
Dear Star – Attendance is a big key to getting good grades. Please make note of it at Georgia State – they won’t sweep it under the rug like they do with everything else in Tuscaloosa. Seriously, how does Alabama get away with so many infractions year to year??
Big Man
June 1st, 2010
5:04 pm
Georgia State is not GSU. Georgia Southern is the real GSU.
Ramblin'
June 1st, 2010
5:09 pm
Bill Curry is a class act! Good luck Panthers!
Honky Talkin'
June 1st, 2010
5:11 pm
To AW: get off your sister…you’re crushing her cigarettes.
Bigger Man
June 1st, 2010
5:15 pm
@Big Man – Go to http://www.gsu.edu ….. now where does that take you? hmm…….
Zeeeeeeee Nachos
June 1st, 2010
5:27 pm
Ted Rutledge is a douche bag.
Billy Boy
June 1st, 2010
5:28 pm
Typical Saban… running a player off who he only signed to keep someone else from getting him.
GSU Panther Fan
June 1st, 2010
5:30 pm
Big Man, Georgia State is the Real GSU. Always was, always will be. You and your declining program down at Statesboro better get used to it and accept the reality. Southern is now 4th best football program in the state, and it won’t be long before they’re 5th best after Kennesaw starts their program.
Bama Fan
June 1st, 2010
5:59 pm
Bye Bye Star. Sorry you couldn’t cut the mustard in class or on the field.
Just the way it goes when you commit to winners and fall short.
Norman Vincent Peale
June 1st, 2010
6:06 pm
I fully expect an undefeated Georgia State team, with Jackson at the helm, to march into Bryant-Denny Stadium and run roughshod over the Crimson Tide, and leave the BCS no choice but to consider them in the national championship picture.
Bama Fan
June 1st, 2010
6:26 pm
Maybe at a band competition but not in football. Wish in one hand and poop in the other. You’ll get the same result. In case you don’t or cannot read, Bama is 3 deep in every position. That’s why Star had to choose a small college in downtown Atlanta with lower GPA standards for playing time. Again, sorry Star couldn’t meet UA’s or Sabans expectations.
Nick Saban
June 1st, 2010
6:30 pm
The truth here is that we have more players than we are allowed to have and I will keep oversigning because franlky some kids don’t turn out to be as good as you’d like so here’s what we do: We identify kids who are down in the depth chart, especially at positions where we have new recruits coming in, and we make up some lie about why they have to leave: academics, attitude, work-ethic, etc… Whatever works. Then we tell them that they can go quietly or I’ll see to it that they never get a scholarship at another school. So which is it: Do you want your parents to pay for the rest of your education or do you want me to find you a new home? Most of them see it the way I’d like them to. This way we can always have the 85 players with the most potential on the roster and we get rid of the clutter After all winning is more important than ethics, honesty, commitment or anything other value. At least that’s how my fan base feels. I quite literally could anally rape a random co-ed daily, film it, put it on YouTube and get away with it as long as I win. That’s how devoid of any humanity Bama fans and myself are. We, collectively, are the embodiment of evil and quite proud of it frankly.
Soulless from Tuscaloosa,
Nick Satan… sorry Saban.
Bishop
June 1st, 2010
6:33 pm
30,000 students isn’t a small school even using Alabama math.
Pago Pago Dawg
June 1st, 2010
6:33 pm
Exactly, if I went to class I’d have good grades also..(Star)..who won’t be a star at GSU.
masivatack
June 1st, 2010
7:03 pm
Bill Curry has more Moose-Knuckle than a Canadian poacher.
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/sports/tech/billcurry061108/14.html
Nick Bryant
June 1st, 2010
7:04 pm
The 10 Worst College Football Teams for Oversigning Recruits
by Bryan Kelly
Relatively speaking, oversigning recruits isn’t like North Korea torpedoing a South Korean warship. Saban lies, nobody dies.
But it’s still a highly unethical practice with several harmful consequences.
Players on oversigned rosters that don’t “make the cut” either lose their scholarships partway through their schooling, or, if they’re true freshmen in an oversigned class, never get one in the first place.
The process of transferring is cumbersome, while the JUCO system is an easy way for a player to disappear off the radar and never be discovered again.
No. 1: Alabama
Class sizes: 2007—25; 2008—32; 2009—27; 2010—29 for a total of 113.
113 kids is 28 over the limit, which equates to having a whole separate recruiting class signed to your school. Plus, the Tide have taken the least amount of JUCOs of these top offenders—on average, one per class—so there’s no sense arguing that the possible roster numbers are inflated.
The Tide are the most high-profile school guilty of oversigning players for four reasons: 1) because of the impassioned defense of the practice by the Alabama fanbase; 2) because of the well-publicized number of shady transfers and team dismissals; 3) because of Nick Saban’s colorful reaction to inquiries regarding oversigning (namely, browbeating reporters into submission, which, in his defense, he does for all inquiries), and 4) because they’ve been the most successful school to do so.
Questionable transfers aside, Alabama fans argue for Saban’s ethics either by saying that everyone oversigns past the 25-man limit, or that it’s negative effects are counterbalanced by the benefit of having a loaded roster.
In any given class, Alabama’s oversigning might be excusable. Yes, everyone signs past the 25-man limit…sometimes. But the numbers can’t lie—over the past three years, Bama hasn’t taken a class off and stayed below the limit.
On the contrary, they’re averaging over 28 recruits per year, and I’m not stupid enough to believe they’ll go lightly in 2011.
That defense also misses the point of what a scholarship is supposed to do. Scholarships should not be revokable on a hair trigger. They’re there to provide players with the chance for an education provided they follow the rules.
Saban’s is the Pete Carroll method of creating competition at every position taken to its logical extreme. Competition is good; muscling underperforming players out of a program is unethical.
Alabama’s talent has gotten better, because its recruiting has gotten better. But that shouldn’t mean the players that were in the program before have to hold onto their scholarships like life jackets as the hotshots hit campus.
Unless Alabama stays below the 25-man limit in 2011, Tide fans will have to at least own up to the trend, even if they fall short of admitting it’s an unethical practice.
masivatack
June 1st, 2010
7:07 pm
Bill Curry puts ice bags on his nips before every game. And the girls go Wiiiiild.
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/sports/tech/billcurry061108/07.html
Who Cares?
June 1st, 2010
7:34 pm
I’m sure the national champion Crimson Tide is just shaking right now……
Isn’t the Georgia State mascot a black panther? Huh, I wonder if that mascot has anything to do with the racist black panther party….