But he has a very good football pedigree. His dad is former Michigan RB Coach Fred Jackson (I believe at one point it was either him or Campbell at Oregon for most tenured assistant coach in the country).
After Beamer retired (and thus our OC at the time, Scot Loeffler no longer had a position in Blacksburg), Jackson looked around and nearly switched to Boston College (following Loeffler) but he stuck with the Hokies. He also had offers from Syracuse, Minnesota, Northwestern, and West Virginia according to 247.