After dominating as a freshman and earning unicorn status from coaches, standout sophomore Gil Jackson Jr. now has veterans forecasting a massive future in the professional ranks.
Gil Jackson Jr. hasn't even started his sophomore season at TCU yet, but one of his teammates is already willing to make a pretty significant prediction about where he could be headed next.
TCU cornerback Vernon Glover Jr. didn't hesitate when asked about Jackson's progression during fall camp.
"That's my brother. That's my dog," Glover said. "Sky's the limit for him. He just every day, he keep on going up and up and up. Like I said, sky's the limit for him. And then I just see him being a first-round NFL cornerback one day."
That's quite a projection for a player entering Year 2.
But Glover isn't the first person around TCU to take notice of Jackson's potential.
Jackson appeared in all 12 games as a freshman last season and was often the first cornerback off the bench for the Horned Frogs. He received his most extensive playing time in TCU's Alamo Bowl win over USC.
Then came the spring.
And that's when the conversation surrounding Jackson's potential began to take another step forward.
Jackson emerged as one of TCU's early standouts, with new cornerbacks coach Benny Boyd offering some significant praise of his own.
"Gil's a unicorn," Boyd told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in April.
Boyd pointed to Jackson's combination of size, movement and physicality while also praising his coachability. He acknowledged Jackson remained a work in progress but made his feelings about the sophomore's potential clear.
"The ceiling? There really isn't one," Boyd said.
Now Glover is taking that projection one step further.
Glover knows a thing or two about playing cornerback at TCU.
The redshirt junior started all 13 games for the Horned Frogs last season, recording 41 tackles, including 30 solo stops, and an interception.
He's also watched Jackson continue to develop alongside him.
"Every day he keep on going up and up and up," Glover said.
TCU's cornerback room has additional competition this fall, and Glover believes that has helped push both him and Jackson.
But when asked specifically about Jackson's progression, Glover wasn't talking about simply earning a starting job or putting together a breakout sophomore season.
He's already thinking much further ahead.
All the way to the first round of the NFL Draft.
