Vikings pick Khyree Jackson is glad he came back to football

Minnesota's new cornerback once quit football. Now he's a fourth-round pick

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By Matthew Coller

If you asked Kyhree Jackson back in 2018 what he was doing with his life, he would have told you that he was employee of the month at his grocery store. He would have also mentioned practicing hard on the NBA 2K video game with the hopes of joining the professional 2K league.

What ever happened with football? Nah. That was behind him.

Out of Wise High School in Upper Malboro, Maryland, Jackson signed with Arizona Western College to play football because he was a “non-qualifier” to play at top schools academically but he left college before the season started. He tried to avoid his hometown friends because he wanted them to believe he was in college rather than back home working in the deli of a Harris Teeter store.

“It was kind of eating away at me,” Jackson said.

With all that time to himself, Jackson’s competitive skills went to work on video games. He reached the top 250 players and was about to have an opportunity to give professional gaming a shot. That’s when football came back into his life.

He finally came clean to his friends, two of which were playing Division I football, that he hadn’t been in college.

“That moment really told me, man, if I was embarrassed to even tell them, I might want to get out and try to do it again instead of sitting here and sulking,” Jackson said.

So he decided to give football another try. Timing in life is funny sometimes. Jackson reached a fork in the road. He had to decide whether to travel to New York to give gaming a shot or dig his helmet out of the closet and head back onto the football field.

“I was debating that decision for about 48 hours,” he said.

Jackson elected to put the controller down and join Fort Scott Community College. At first he played wide receiver but he felt that it wasn’t going to give him an opportunity to shine and make it to the Power 5 level. He went into the coach’s office and told him that the quarterback situation wasn’t going to allow for his talent to shine through so he needed to switch to cornerback. It wasn’t long after that Jackson found himself playing for one of college football’s greatest coaches.

First he had another setback. Jackson went from FSCC to East Mississippi Community College but their 2020 season was canceled due to COVID. In 2021, Nick Saban brought him to Alabama.

Things did not go smoothly with the Crimson Tide. Jackson played sparingly, seeing fewer than 200 total snaps between 2021 and 2022 and his time at ‘Bama ended with a suspension (for reasons Saban did not reveal).

Oregon represented Jackson’s last shot with football.

There he clicked with head coach Dan Lanning. The 6-foot-4 cornerback played 520 dominant snaps, allowing just 19 receptions on 38 attempts into his coverage with one touchdown allowed, three interceptions and eight pass breakups. When opposing QBs targeted him, they posted a 41.6 QB rating (per PFF).

“Just having a coach that trusted in my abilities but also understood who he had in a player,” Jackson said. “I feel like I have two different personalities as in how I am off the field. I don't really talk much off the field. I'm more laid back and chill. But when I'm at practice or in the games. I'm just an animal on the field. I don't really have too many friends. I just want to demolish everybody who's in front of me.”

He continued…

“Just having someone who understands and really knew how to decipher and knew who I was, that's what led me to play so comfortable this year. There were a couple times when coach Lanning said ,hey, I'm going to let you play your game. Just make sure you don't get no flags, and I made sure I upheld that and that was our relationship.”

Jackson went to the Senior Bowl with hopes of giving himself a chance to get drafted. He met with the Vikings and told them he believed that he is the best cornerback in the draft. He said Brian Flores was impressed that Jackson knew his background working with star corner Xavien Howard and he was already familiar with defensive backs coach Daronte Jones because they are from the same area in Maryland.

Understanding his path was different, he urged them to consider that he could be a steal.

“I think I showed versus a lot of top-tier receivers and quarterbacks what I could do so that's all I really said,” Jackson explained. “I think the 'get me for cheaper' part was the icing on the cake. If you can save money, why not?”

On Saturday, Jackson was at the mall when he received the call from the Vikings that they were taking with him the 108th pick overall. He told the woman in the store, “Uh, I gotta go!”

He called his parents and raced back home. You can imagine that he was thinking about how far he’s come since winning employee of the month.

“I wouldn't change it for the world though,” Jackson said. “I feel like it taught me a lot of perseverance. It helped turn me into the man that I am today. I feel like I don't take no shortcuts.”

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