Career
• Four-year letterwinner and three-year starter who played in 47 career games with 31 starts, consecutive starts in games played
• Recorded a tackle in 31 straight games played
• Amassed 216 career tackles with 17 tackles for loss, 9.0 sacks, five interceptions, nine pass breakups and one forced fumble
• UK’s leading tackler in 2022 and 2023
• Recorded at least one interception in four of his five seasons as a Wildcat (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024)

2024 – Senior
• Played in eight games before missing the final four with injury
• Finished the 2024 season with 38 tackles, including 5.0 tackles for loss along with one sack, an interception and three pass breakups
• Recorded seven tackles, including 1.5 TFL in the win over Ole Miss
• Charted seven tackles, including two tackles for loss (-16 yards), including a sack (-15 yards) vs. Vanderbilt … Also made his fifth career interception catch with a pickoff in the second quarter … It was Vanderbilt’s first interception of the season
• Preseason Third Team All-SEC (Athlon and Phil Steele)
• Butkus Award Watch List
• Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List
• Dean’s List (Spring 2024)

2023 – Junior
• Named to SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll
• Earned All-SEC Defense (PFF)
• Team’s leading tackler for the second straight season, finishing with 89 (9th in the SEC) … Also added 8.5 tackles for loss (third-most on the team), 2.0 sacks, two interceptions, one for a score, four pass breakups, two quarterback hurries and a forced fumble
• Totaled a team-high tying 11 tackles and his first forced fumble in the win over No. 9 Louisville
• Had three tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and a 28-yard pick-six in the win over Mississippi State … Marked the fourth interception of his career, the second this season, and the first pick-six of his career
• Got a team-high and a career-high-tying two tackles for loss (-2 yards) vs. Tennessee … Added a season-high tying 11 tackles, the third double-figure tackling game of his career
• Led the Wildcats in tackles with a season-high 11 stops at No. 1 Georgia
• Got his his first interception since 2021 in the win over Vanderbilt
• Had five tackles, his first career sack (-6 yards), 1.5 tackles for loss (-8 yards) and one pass breakup in the win over No. 22/23 Florida

2022 – r-Sophomore
• Played in all 13 games with nine starting assignments, eight straight
• Team’s leading tackler with 67
• Finished with 4.0 tackles for loss (fourth-highest) and two pass breakups
• Got his first career tackle for loss and pass breakup at Ole Miss
• Charted a career-high 2.0 tackles vs. South Carolina
• Had five tackles and a PBU in the win over Mississippi State
• Led the Wildcats with a career-high 14 tackles, including four solo stops and one-half tackle for loss at No. 3 Tennessee
• Had at least eight tackles in four of his last six games
• Named to SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll

2021 – Sophomore
• Suffered a torn Achilles tendon in spring practice on April 10, 2021 … Had surgery on April 13 and was expected to miss the entire season … Instead, returned to full practice activity on Oct. 28 and saw his first action of the season at Vanderbilt on Nov. 13
• Saw action in four games with one starting assignment vs. Iowa in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl, his first career start
• Totaled 18 tackles, a quarterback hurry and his second career interception
• Had seven tackles (Ɵ ed for third on the team) and an interception vs. Iowa in the Citrus Bowl
• In his third game back, totaled a team and career-high eight tackles in the win over Louisville
• Charted three tackles and his first career quarterback hurry vs. New Mexico State
• Named to SEC Academic Honor Roll

2020 – Freshman
• Mid-year enrollee in January 2020
• Played in nine games and totaled four tackles and one interception for a five-yard return
• Did not see action at Alabama or at Florida
• Earned his first career tackle at Auburn
• Snagged his first career interception on the final play of the game vs. Mississippi State
• 2020-21 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll

High School
• Three-star prospect by all three major recruiting services
• Rated the No. 47 inside linebacker in the country by 247Sports
• Three-time All-Region 2AAAA selection
• Led the team in tackles three straight seasons as a starter
• Tallied 129 total tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss, nine sacks, four quarterback hurries and an interception as a senior, earning Region 2AAAA Defensive Player of the Year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Had 96 tackles, 14 TFL and four sacks as a junior
• West Laurens Defensive Player of the Year as a junior
• Two-time Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Junior All-Star Game participant
• Ranked 20th in the state of Georgia among all classifications in total tackles
• Helped lead the Raiders to the Region 2AAAA championship title
• Coached by Kagan McClain
• Also played power forward on the basketball team
• Chose Kentucky over Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Purdue

Community Cats
• Participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s Men’s Conference at Southland Christian (2020)
• Visited sick children at Kentucky Children’s Hospital (2020)

Personal
• First name pronounced “dee-ERIC”
• Born in Dublin, Georgia
• Son of Shamika and Eric Jackson on of Shamika and Eric Jackson
• Has one sister, Dezhune
• Graduated in December of ’23 with a degree in communication … Earned an undergraduate certificate in leadership studies in December of ’24

D’Eryk Says
• He chose Kentucky because it felt like family
• When he played football as a kid, he pretended to be Ray Lewis
• One word to describe him on the fi eld is “physical”
• His favorite movie is Friday
• His sports hero is Ray Lewis