James Jackson is a linebacker who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Virginia.
Jackson is steady in every phase without a signature trait. The five seasons at Virginia span two head coaches: Bronco Mendenhall and Tony Elliott. ACC Linebacker Player of the Week in 2023 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. On tape: 8 tackles against North Carolina, Week 9, 2025.
Play style
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
66 tackles. 3 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 2.5 TFL.
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.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
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Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 14 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 48-7vs Coastal Carolina | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 31-35@ NC State | 8 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Wk 3 | W 55-16vs William & Mary | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 48-20vs Stanford | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 46-38vs No. 8 Florida State | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 30-27@ Louisville | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | W 22-20vs Washington State | 6 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | W 17-16@ North Carolina | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 31-21@ California | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 9-16vs Wake Forest | 7 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 12 | W 34-17@ Duke | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 27-7vs Virginia Tech | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 15 | L 20-27vs Duke | 7 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 13-7vs No. 25 Missouri | 4 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 66 | 24 | 2.5 | 0.0 | — | 3 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
66tackles this seasonTFL rate
4%2 TFLSack rate
0%0 sacksPD rate
5%3 pass breakups66 tackles · 2.5 for loss.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 14 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 4.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Road5g | 4.8 | 0.1 | 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
Head Coach
Tony Elliott
Pass share
48.0%
492 pass / 534 run
Plays / game
73.3
14 games
Team sack rate
3.6%
474 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS linebacker who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #344 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-ACC
Based on 2025: #43 of 74 ACC LBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
The No. 1,344 recruit in the country is starting at linebacker in the ACC as a senior.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2021–2025
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Bronco Mendenhall → Tony Elliott. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
