James Jackson

Senior linebacker for Virginia. 2025: 66 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss.

LB · Virginia · Sr. · #1

6′3″ · 234 lb · Roanoke, VA

CFB Index 44 · #344 of 583 LBsHigh confidenceReturning to Virginia for 2026

How he plays

Is steady in every phase without a signature trait.

QB hurries: 92nd percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

tackles · 2025

2.5 TFL · 3 PBU

Best game: 7 tackles, 1 TFL, vs Wake Forest

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 linebacker for Virginia. 2025: 66 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Virginia in 2021.

His career, year by year

James Jackson

LB · Virginia · Sr · #1

Is steady in every phase without a signature trait. Five seasons at Virginia, two different head coaches: Bronco Mendenhall and Tony Elliott. Two straight seasons of it now: ACC Linebacker Player of the Week again in 2023. The receipt on tape: 8 tackles against North Carolina, Week 9, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Virginia6-6HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Pass-heavy

2022Virginia3-7HC: Tony Elliott · Balanced

2023Virginia3-9HC: Tony Elliott · Run-leaning

2024Virginia5-7HC: Tony Elliott · Balanced

2025Virginia11-3HC: Tony Elliott · Balanced

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

44Rotational starter #344 of 583?

High confidence7 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (92nd percentile). Strength: tackles (89th percentile). Concern: sacks (24th percentile).

Box-score production (7)

QB hurries#188 / 2975 · 92nd pct

Tackles#316 / 2975 · 89th pct

Passes defended#517 / 2975 · 78th pct

Solo tackles#790 / 2975 · 73rd pct

Tackles for loss#1222 / 2975 · 56th pct

2.5

Forced fumbles#36 / 687 · 47th pct

Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct

0.0

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 14 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home8g	4.8	0.1	0.0	0.2
Road6g	4.7	0.2	0.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	4.1	0.1	0.0	0.1
Weeks 8+7g	5.3	0.2	0.0	0.3

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Tony Elliott

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Tackle volume for the position in part-time-starter range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

44 · #344 of 583 LBs

Three-star recruit. Now #344 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-ACC

Based on 2025: #43 of 74 ACC LBs

How the All-ACC estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Virginia	66	24	2.5	0.0	3	--	--
2024	Virginia	45	16	5.0	2.0	--	--	--
2023	Virginia	80	34	4.0	1.0	5	1	--
2022	Virginia	60	29	1.5	1.0	1	--	--
2021	Virginia	3	1	0.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		254	104	13.0	4.0	9	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2025

W 13–7

at Missouri

4 TOT · 1 SOLO · 1 TFL

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 6 on the road.

With C. Morris — 198 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · QBR 78.2 · D. Sparks — 41 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 48 LONG

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 14 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 48-7vs Coastal Carolina	3	1	0.0	—	0
Wk 2	L 31-35@ NC State	8	2	0.0	—	0	Season-high 8 tackles
Wk 3	W 55-16vs William & Mary	3	2	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	W 48-20vs Stanford	3	0	0.0	—	0
Wk 5	W 46-38vs Florida State	4	0	0.0	—	0
Wk 6	W 30-27@ Louisville	4	3	0.0	—	1
Wk 8	W 22-20vs Washington State	6	2	0.0	—	1
Wk 9	W 17-16@ North Carolina	8	4	0.0	—	0
Wk 10	W 31-21@ California	2	0	0.0	—	0
Wk 11	L 9-16vs Wake Forest	7	2	1.0	—	1
Wk 12	W 34-17@ Duke	2	1	0.5	—	0
Wk 14	W 27-7vs Virginia Tech	5	1	0.0	—	0
Wk 15	L 20-27vs Duke	7	5	0.0	—	0
Bowl	W 13-7@ Missouri	4	1	1.0	—	0
Total		66	24	2.5	—	3

How he plays

Play style

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

14 games

66Tackles

24Solo

2.5TFL

0Sacks

3Pass def.

0INT

66 tackles. 3 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 2.5 TFL.

Week 61 PD
Week 81 PD
Week 111 PD

Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.

2026 Outlook

Virginia

Preseason read · May 27

2026 Depth chart

Returning starter

Linebacker · Virginia

Returning around him

Transfer portal: +9 net (31 in / 22 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Virginia · Last season: 11-3 (AP #20) · Talent rank #53 · 2026 recruiting class #111

DNA match

Player DNA

Balanced Linebacker

Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Alan Tisdale’s 2023 season.

Alan Tisdale

77%match

Virginia Tech · 2023

Ben VanSumeren

Michigan State · 2022

77%

Chris Conti

Rice · 2022

76%

Deontay Anderson

Houston · 2021

75%

James Jackson

Virginia · 2023

NFL Rd 3 · Pk 3

75%

Matches Alan on

Weight

Sack rate

Solo tackle rate

Differs from Alan on

Hurry rate (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a graduate, his production profile tracks closest to Ethan Barr's graduate season at UCF (2024).

Ethan Barr

84%match

UCF · 2024

Shammond Cooper

Akron · 2025

77%

Gerrell Johnson

Massachusetts · 2024

75%

Wayne Matthews III

Michigan State · 2025

All-Sun Belt

74%

Brandon George

Pittsburgh · 2024

74%

Matches Ethan on

Tackle volume

Solo tackle rate

Weight

Differs from Ethan on

Hurry rate (higher)

Player DNA

Players who play like James Jackson

Ryheem Craig

East Carolina · 2024

87%

Devin Richardson

Washington State · 2023

87%

Steven Cattledge

Troy · 2025

85%

Caleb Woodson

Virginia Tech · 2025

84%

Kalib Perry

Louisville · 2025

81%

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

2021

202210 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Balanced Linebacker

Players who play like James Jackson