He didn't like what he saw.
Jackson hadn't been a troublemaker. Nor a poor student.
But he didn't see the best version of himself, either, on or off the football field.
"I said to myself, ‘I have to step up and do this or I'm going to fall by the wayside,'” Jackson said. "The last couple of years I haven't put in what I feel like I could have in all parts of my life.”
Today in OU's first open scrimmage, Sooner fans will have their first chance to see the new Jackson, who through just seven spring practices has already entrenched himself as the replacement for Reggie Smith at cornerback.
"Brian Jackson has had his hands on a ton of footballs,” secondary coach Bobby Jack Wright said. "This is his opportunity and he's making the most of it. We feel like we have a pretty good guy back there.
"We don't feel like we're missing a beat right now.”
The progression of the cornerbacks will be a critical development for the Sooners heading into next season.
Smith, an all-Big 12 performer, skipped his senior season to enter the NFL Draft. OU's other cornerback last season, three-year starter Marcus Walker, was a senior.
Those departures have left the Sooners with almost no experience returning at cornerback, which could be dangerous with so many prolific passing offenses on the 2008 slate.
But Jackson's emergence, along with the play of sophomores Dominique Franks and Jonathan Nelson, have assuaged some of those concerns of OU coach Bob Stoops, defensive coordinator Brent Venables and Wright.
"In all honesty, I don't want this to come out wrong, but we're pretty happy,” Wright said. "Those young guys are excited to play, they bring a lot of enthusiasm to the meeting sessions.
"I haven't felt any drop-off at all.”
Much of that has had to do with Jackson's rededication, which began on the first day of winter conditioning drills.
"I had to learn to dig deep inside,” he said. "Every day has been a challenge for me. But I take it one day at a time. You try to take too many steps at once and you start to stumble.”
But the DeSoto, Texas, native has yet to stumble.
At the conclusion of the winter conditioning session, Jackson was among the first names Stoops mentioned when discussing players who stood out during workouts.
So far this spring, the 6-foot-1, 194-pound Jackson has been so adept at knocking down balls with his long arms and 4.5 speed, Stoops declared after the first practice that "Brian Jackson got his hands on more balls today than maybe any corner we've had in the past six or seven years.”
Stoops will be hoping Jackson's knack for tipping balls will advance OU's uptick of interceptions over the past three years.
"I'm always trying to make a play on the ball, no matter what,” Jackson said. "If you get your hand on the ball, you never know what can happen.”
Giving 100 percent in football, however, hasn't stopped there — it has carried over into other areas of Jackson's life.
He's doing better in school, he's been a better friend to his teammates and he's been a better son to his mom, too, with whom he talks on the phone several times a day.
"Everyone has to look in the mirror and say, ‘Is my life, right now, the way I want it?'” Jackson said. "If it's not, you have the opportunity to change it.
"I was doing things well. But I could've been doing things a whole lot better.”
