'What's the path?': Why the time was now for Auburn's Sam Jackson to make position change

AUBURN — Auburn football quarterback Payton Thorne's phone buzzed in December while he was preparing for the Music City Bowl against Maryland. A longtime friend was on the other end.

"If Auburn offers me, I’m coming," Thorne recalled of his peer's main point. "I don’t even need to talk to anybody else."

Then things went silent for a bit. It was Christmas time, and Thorne hadn't spoken to his former high-school teammate about his portal interests in a few days. Thorne was playing ping pong with some Auburn teammates when one brought the familiar name up.

"Who’s Sam Jackson?" the teammate asked.

"What do you mean who's Sam Jackson?" Thorne responded.

"He just committed to us," the teammate answered.

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"I was like, 'No way.' I was super excited to see that," Thorne said. "I called him right away. ... I know his mentality and his competitiveness. He’s a huge get.”

Thorne has previous experience with Jackson, who began his collegiate career as a quarterback at TCU for two seasons before transferring to Cal in January 2023; Jackson completed 14 of his 27 passes for 129 yards in a Week 2 loss to the Tigers last season.

The Thorne-Jackson duo overlapped at Illinois' Naperville Central High School in 2018, when Jackson transferred in from Bolingbrook High School and changed positions from QB to receiver for one season. He's once again made that position change, teaming back up with Thorne in hopes of accomplishing his ultimate goal: Turning football into a career.

'Geeked up'

Ryan Clifford first noticed Jackson at a youth football event in Florida.

Clifford, a former running back at Illinois in the early 2000s, was coaching another team when he saw Jackson's infectious energy. He was particular impressed with the fact that, even at such a young age, Jackson's teammates "seemed to gravitate around him and follow his leadership."

Needing to know more, Clifford sought out Jackson's father, Sam Jackson IV, and introduced himself. The relationship between Clifford and the Jackson family grew, and he became the younger Jackson's personal coach and mentor.

"I quickly realized how competitive Sam was and how gifted of an athlete he is," Clifford said. "He just had a bright future ahead of him, and I just took it upon myself to do a lot of mentoring. ... I could kind of forecast and let him know the challenges that are going to come about with playing this game at the collegiate level. ...

"He’s always been receptive of any help and any guidance that people are willing to give him. Just a great kid. I couldn’t help but just stick with him and almost be another father figure for him. I’ve been a blend of a father figure, a coach, a mentor, a friend."

Clifford's defining memory of Jackson came when the latter was a freshman at Bolingbrook. The backup quarterback, Jackson got inserted into the regular-season finale against undefeated Lincoln-Way East after the starter went down with an injury.

It didn't take Jackson long to launch a 60-yard dime to give the Raiders the lead.

"Right then I just knew he was different," Clifford said. "He was built different mentally to be able to handle that pressure and come in and lead a team as a freshman. ... You could just see the different look in his eyes. I already knew how special of a talent he was, but I knew he wasn’t afraid of the moment at that point. ... He turns it up a few notches when the lights are on and the crowd is behind him. He gets geeked up for the moment.”

'The fallback'

Clifford and Jackson always knew what the backup plan was.

Making it as a QB was ideal, but the objective of making football a career always trumped that.

"Going back and reflecting on his ultimate goal since he was a little kid ... it was like, all right, at this point, what’s the path? What’s the right path to make this football career? ... We just kind of came to the conclusion that time is ticking," Clifford said of the position switch. "You don’t have years upon years to make your dreams come true when it comes to athletics. We had to sit down and be like: Is this the time to go to wide receiver?"

Jackson, who has two years of eligibility remaining, hauled in 50 passes for 847 yards and 14 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2018, helping the Redhawks go 7-4 and reach the second round of the Illinois State 8A playoffs.

That production proved he had the natural talent to play the position if ever needed, and the time has arrived.

"We always knew (and) Sam knew that the fallback, ultimately, would be to play wide receiver," Clifford said. "That’s what it is right now. He exhausted every opportunity at the quarterback position, but he’s such a talented young man and he knows that he can play the wide receiver position at the highest level. We just made that decision to go to Auburn and reunite with Payton and be in an unreal football environment with a great coach in coach (Hugh) Freeze.

"It’s really an ascending program right now. It’s definitely a program that’s recruiting hard. A lot of good people there. A lot of good coaches there. Great fanbase. Sam is super excited to be a Tiger and to make a strong impact on this team as a newcomer.”

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Why Sam Jackson V chose to join the Tigers as a WR