Notre Dame Football All-Decade Team: Cornerback

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PALO ALTO, CA – NOVEMBER 30: Bennett Jackson #2 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after intercepting a pass against the Stanford Cardinal during the fourth quarter at Stanford Stadium on November 30, 2013 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

Bennett Jackson (2010-2013)

The theme of this list is big-time contributors early and Jackson is no different, as he won special teams player of the year in his true freshman season at Notre Dame. Jackson was the lead kickoff returner that season to go along with being a main gunner for the Irish football team. His sophomore season was predominantly on special teams as well, but his junior and season seasons, he would start all 26 games at corner.

Another physical corner, Jackson would total 129 tackles in his two years as a starter on defense — 6.5 of those being for loss. Jackson would also pick off 6 passes — leading the team with 4 in 2012. In 2013, he became an Irish captain and proved to be a leader of a defense that lost a big-time leader in Manti Te’o.

Jackson was drafted in the 6th round of the 2014 draft by the New York Giants, but didn’t make the 53 man roster. In 2015, he moved to safety, but tore his ACL in game 2 of the the preseason and was placed on IR. He was released in 2016 and sat out the 2016 and 2017 seasons before signing a reserve/futures contract with the Ravens in 2018. After hopping around from the Ravens and Jets for a little over a year — all on the practice squad — Jackson would finally get his chance with Baltimore this past year playing in 4 games before another release. He would also play in 2 games with the Jets this season.

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