Donovan Jackson was prepared to play with his usual ferocity and hunger to win games at any NFL franchise. But he had his fingers crossed for a certain one.
His high school coach, Steve Leisz, is from Minnesota and was “pounding the table,” as Jackson put it, to have him attend Minnesota in college. He didn’t visit the Gophers as a five-star prospect out of high school, but when he visited the Minnesota Vikings during his draft process coming out of Ohio State, he fell in love.
“I knew after the visit, this is where I wanted to be,” Jackson said at his introductory Vikings press conference on Friday. “I understand it's not like college, you can't commit to an organization, but I told my agent, ‘If we can, like, I really want to go to Minnesota.’ But I'm blessed to have it all work out in the way I want it to be. I know I'm in a place where I'm needed and wanted. So I'm just ready to get to work and help win games.”
The Vikings fell in love, too, enough to select Jackson No. 24 overall in the 2025 NFL draft on Thursday.
“We talked about, in our evaluation process, really seeing him early as a player that we were interested in,” Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “You saw the play at guard. We started watching him last year and early in this year. And then to see the light come on at tackle – we say the word selfless often. And I think selfless is a word we all like to say about ourselves, but selfless in action. You're talking about everything on the line for his personal future and what he did for his team, and it resulted in a national championship run, is something that he should be proud of as a player and something that we're proud to bring to this organization.”
.@D_jack78's night got a lot better when he got that life-changing call from Minnesota.
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) April 25, 2025
pic.twitter.com/dcKU4wZJmJ
Adofo-Mensah didn’t overstate Jackson’s impact on Ohio State’s national championship in 2024. He couldn’t possibly.
After the Buckeyes lost left tackle Josh Simmons, himself a first-round pick of the Chiefs on Thursday, to a season-ending knee injury in Week 7, their outlook at the position looked grim after Zen Michalski struggled immensely before also getting injured the following game against Nebraska. Jackson, a three-time first-team All-Big Ten performer at guard, played left tackle for the first time in his career despite the fact it could hurt his NFL draft stock if he had a bad showing at the position.
Jackson’s insatiable appetite for victory made it an easy choice.
“It stems from just me hating to lose more than the love to win,” Jackson said. “I have that competitive fire in myself, in that whatever is needed of me, whether it be moving out to another position, I'm willing to do so if that means that we can win games.”
Jackson had hiccups in his first start at his new spot, but it’d be bizarre if he didn’t given that he was facing the No. 3 pick in the draft, Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter. Carter recorded two sacks against Jackson but got mauled in the running game in a statement effort for Ohio State’s offensive line that led to a top-five road win for the Buckeyes.
From there, Jackson became one of the best offensive tackles in all of college football. He allowed no sacks the rest of the year facing a cavalcade of elite edge rushers, shutting out first-round pick James Pearce Jr. against Tennessee, two third-round picks in Michigan’s Josaiah Stewart and Oregon’s Jordan Burch, first-team All-Big Ten selection Mikail Kamara of Indiana and Texas’ national freshman of the year Colin Simmons.
Jackson was drafted to play guard in Minnesota. But his move outside flexed his selflessness, athleticism and versatility. It made him even more well-rounded as a guard.
“I just wanted to help the team win more than anything else,” Jackson said. “It doesn't matter what my goals are as long as the team wins. My goals are set aside. But what I learned from that is just how to block different types of rushers. When you're at guard, you kind of fight in a phone booth. When you're at tackle, you're kind of going against a guy who is a little bit of a different body type. But every team has their own sack package, rush package. And so, regardless, those rushers can line up on you.”
“Whatever is needed of me, whether it be moving out to another position, I'm willing to do so if that means that we can win games.”– Donovan Jackson
The elation of being drafted by his preferred team led to a lot of celebration for Jackson and his family on Thursday night, but when he touched down in the Vikings’ facility on Friday, he felt like a true professional.
“When I got the call, I was like, ‘Man, that's really cool,’” Jackson said. “And then I got here, I was like, ‘Man, this is like my first day at work.’ And so that was a pretty cool feeling. I always joked with my parents, this process that like, ‘Oh no, you got to let me stay here because I'm unemployed.’ But now I actually have a job. But it's a lot more real now. I'm just really excited to get to work and get to know everybody in the locker room.”
Adofo-Mensah said he felt the Vikings got the best player available in the draft at the time they selected Jackson, though it also helps that he comes at a position of need.
“Really sound player in both phases,” Adofo-Mensah said. “In pass protection, a great reactive athlete. Can anchor down the pocket, keep depth for that guy behind him from that school up north. And in the run game, just a really solid player, strains throughout the down, really creates movement. Somebody we’re really excited to add (Jackson) to our O-line and our room.”
Minnesota spent much of this offseason crafting the best offensive line possible to protect former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, its first-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft, who missed his rookie season with a torn meniscus. On the rivalry front, Jackson and McCarthy agreed to “leave that in college,” the lineman said.
The Vikings added a four-time Pro Bowler at center in free agency, Ryan Kelly. They also signed a right guard, Will Fries, with 31 starts of experience from Indianapolis. Brian O’Neill has 106 career starts and is a two-time Pro Bowler at right tackle. First-round pick and four-year starter Christian Darrisaw locks down the left tackle spot. Jackson was the missing piece at left guard.
“Just love everything about his play style, his size,” Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell said of Jackson on Thursday. “He's got length. He's got power. And then the little things that sometimes jump out at you about a player, willingness to just jump over to the left tackle spot and the very next week, he's blocking the third pick in tonight's draft and competing his tail off and didn't necessarily need to do that in a year where he was going to be drafted and evaluated the way he was. So a lot of things that we're very excited about.”
“Just love everything about his play style.”– Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell on Donovan Jackson
O’Connell had stated earlier that, with their new pieces, he believes the Vikings can have one of the best offensive lines in football this fall. Jackson is eager to play alongside such a veteran group.
“Yeah, I'm very excited,” Jackson said. “There are guys in the O-line room who have played football at a very high level for a very long time, doing the right things. And they reached out to me after the draft. So I'm very excited to, one, get to know them, and getting to work.”
Jackson’s cat – which he noted has the S-tier name “Leonardo DiCatio” in his presser – went a bit viral for getting excited, too.
Leonardo DiCatio stole the show at @D_jack78's draft party last night. pic.twitter.com/SyAByymGCn
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) April 25, 2025
The 2024 national title hero is elated to be at his preferred NFL destination, but he’s entering with a desire to grow his game and be the franchise left guard he was drafted to be.
“That's the beauty of football, that the game's never stagnant,” Jackson said. “You always have to grow. You always have to improve in what you're doing. So, all aspects of my game, I want to improve in. There's not one point where I'm satisfied or content of what I'm doing on the football field.”
