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.