McKinnley Jackson named to Outland Trophy watchlist

August is here, and while it may not quite be football season yet, it is absolutely WATCHLIST SEASON. Every year, all of the national player awards put out a preseason list of the guys to watch (hence the name “watchlist”), which is usually pretty darn expansive.

The first of these for the Texas A&M Aggies in 2022 is DT McKinnley Jackson, who was named to the Outland Trophy watchlist on Tuesday.

Jackson, who was also named to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team, served as the season-long team captain in 2022, starting seven of the eight games he appeared in. He tallied 37 tackles on the season and ranked second on the team with 7.0 tackles for loss, including a pair of sacks. The Lucedale, Mississippi, native registered the first double-digit tackles game of his career with a breakout performance against Ole Miss as he finished with 12 takedowns, 1.5 TFL and 1.0 sack for a 9-yard loss. Jackson earned the team’s Aggie Defense Leadership and Defensive MVP honors at the annual team banquet.

The Outland Trophy is the third-oldest major college football award, created in 1946 when Dr. John Outland presented the Football Writers Association of America with a financial contribution to initiate the award. The Outland Trophy has been given to the best interior lineman in college football ever since. Dr. Outland, an All-American at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s, eventually took up practice in Kansas City, Missouri. An avid outdoorsman, Dr. Outland believed linemen did not get the credit they deserved and wanted an award to recognize them.