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USC's Adoree Jackson will miss spring ball to pursue Olympic dream

graham watson

USC defensive back Adoree’ Jackson will forgo spring practice to pursue his dream of making the Olympics.

Jackson, a long jumper on the track team, will use the spring to try to earn an Olympic qualifying jump. Last year as a freshman, Jackson won the Pac-12 Conference long-jump title with a mark of 25 feet 3 inches. He bested that with a jump of 25-11 at the NCAA championships for a fifth-place finish.

However, the Olympic qualifying mark for the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials is 26-5. And at last year’s U.S. track and field championships, the winner jumped 28-5¾ and none of the top three finished shorter than 27-7½ inches.

USC coach Clay Helton said he supported Jackson's desire to try to make the Olympic team and that he knew in order for Jackson to fully pursue his dream, Jackson needed to focus solely on track and field.

"I've always believed if you're going to be a master at something, you've got to work at it — and don't be a jack of all trades," Helton said. "When you get the opportunity to go work for the Olympics, you need to go work at that."

Jackson became an all-around player for the Trojans this season playing defensive back, receiver and returning kicks. He had five touchdowns, two on kick returns, two on pass receptions and one interception returned for a score.

For more USC news, visit TrojanSports.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

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