Texas A&M Junior DT McKinnley Jackson announces his return for senior season

With the regular season complete, Texas A&M has officially moved into recruiting season. But that doesn’t just mean recruiting high school and portal players, it also means recruiting the guys already on your roster to stay. The Aggies have lost several players to the portal in recent days, but gut some fantastic news on Monday, as junior DT McKinnley Jackson announced his plans to return for his senior season. He made the announcement on his Instagram account, which was confirmed by Aggies Today on Twitter.

Jackson’s stats aren’t eye-popping, mostly due to time missed due to injury this season. But in eight games played, he totaled 37 tackles, including seven tackles for loss and two sacks. Based on that pace, he would have been top 10 in the SEC in tackles for loss had he played a full season.

The Aggie defensive line played a ton of youth in 2022, and with the return of Jackson, stands to get every significant piece back for 2023 (pending any transfer portal departures). The same holds true for the A&M offensive line (pending junior Layden Robinson’s NFL Draft decision). I know it’s too soon for 2023 hype, but if the lines on both sides of the ball bring everybody back...I’m just sayin’.