If he could, Jerry Jacobs would like to re-do his decision.
After four games into 2020 season, Jacobs, who transferred from Arkansas State to Arkansas, decided to opt out for the remainder of the year. With time to reflect, Jacobs wished he would have spoken to additional people about what he should do. Nearly five months after the fact, Jacobs said he wouldn’t choose to opt out, if he had another shot.
“One thousand percent, for sure. I regret it,” Jacobs said. “If I could go back and change that decision, that would be one of the main ones. I just felt I did it on my own and didn’t talk to anyone. I talked to Coach (Sam Pittman), who gave me a lot of reasons why I should stay. But I probably just wasn’t hearing it in the moment.”
Jacobs, who played high school football at South Cobb High, has had a lengthy series of events to overcome. When he was only 11 years old, his mother died of pneumonia, with his father rarely in the picture. He leaned on his siblings for support, with his sister acting as a parental figure in his life. At South Cobb, Jacobs, who recorded eight interceptions as a sophomore, was unable to compete as a junior and missed a handful of games as a senior. He still recorded six interceptions in seven games.
Missing a junior season in high school hurt his recruitment, even though folks from South Cobb were well aware of his talent. That’s how he ended up at the junior-college level for a year before transferring to Arkansas State.
After a standout sophomore season with the Red Wolves in 2018, Jacobs tore his ACL in the third game of the 2019 season against Georgia on a play where he was step for step with receiver George Pickens. He then suffered another injury in 2020, with his playing time being limited in his return.
Even so, Jacobs said those weren’t reasons why he opted out.
“It was just me,” Jacobs said. “My health was good. My mind was eating me up on the inside. I still won’t say it was (someone else) taking my position, my health, none of that. It was me. I wasn’t there all the way.”
OJ Conner, a receivers coach at Pebblebrook who coached defensive backs at South Cobb in 2016, said Jacobs has always linked his identity with football. In his lone year coaching Jacobs, Conner said he saw how important the game was for him.
Conner recalled a 7-on-7 tournament South Cobb participated in during the summer before Jacobs’ senior year, where the young cornerback responded to a receiver’s trash talk with a tougher-than-usual jam at the line of scrimmage.
“The guys were out there doing a little trash talking and Jerry was telling this receiver, ‘Look, man, I’m not going to let you off the line of scrimmage,’” Conner said. “The guy started jawing with him. So Jerry, during a 7-on-7 drill — I don’t remember the defense we were playing, it was Cover-3 or Cover-2. He jams the guy. He doesn’t get off the line of scrimmage. But Jerry proceeds to take this guy all the way over off the field and deposits him in a forested area on the side of the football field.
“We’re yelling and screaming like, ‘Where is the flat defender?’ Then we see Jerry. He’s got this kid hemmed up in the woods over there basically and deposits him in the brush. After that day, I was like, man, this dude is different.”
Conner, who played college football at Indiana, felt Jacobs always had Power 5 football ability and was thrilled when Jacobs transferred to Arkansas. A nose for the football, Conner said it seemed like Jacobs was always around a pass play, whether it was his assignment or not.
“He was just a magnet,” Conner said. “If the ball was in the air Jerry just knew how to find his way to it. He wouldn’t be the coverage guy but he would find a way to peel off. His knack for the ball was always special. He was a play-maker, man.”
It didn’t surprise Conner to hear Jacobs regret his decision to opt out. He noted his natural athletic ability and talent as a high schooler, stating he’s had the same physical build since the summer before his senior year. He also noted Jacobs’ backpedal was just as exceptional then, too.
As for Jacobs, within four weeks of his decision, he was in Miami training for the coming draft. Jacobs said that although Pittman tried to convince him to stick out the season, there was never animosity. Jacobs said he was grateful for the opportunity to participate in Arkansas’ Pro Day, even though he didn’t finish out the season.
In the end, he’s hoping to prove to NFL teams that this is yet another circumstance he will ultimately overcome.
“In the beginning it was bad. A lot of people questioned me, wondering why I opted out,” Jacobs said. “I felt like it was hurtful. Knowing I did pro day and they saw me, (NFL teams) just wanted to see if I could handle adversity and be coachable. It hurt me a little bit, but I think I’ll still be good.”
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