Fourth-round 2024 NFL Draft pick Khyree Jackson told his mother he was ready to work in a grocery store before receiving a dream NFL Draft selection. Jackson, 24, died in an automobile accident in the early hours of Saturday morning, confirmed by his mother Ebbony Jackson to TMZ.
The Minnesota draft pick's death comes after remarkable journey for the young cornerback, who emerged from the junior college ranks and had once told his mom of his intentions to step away from football entirely.
"At one point I wasn't thinking about football much, I had just won Employee of the Month at the grocery store," Jackson told Yahoo Sports in a post-draft interview. "I told my mom at one point and time, 'I guess I'm about to me, you know, working at the grocery store.'
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"I played 2K a lot too, so I was trying out to make it to the NBA 2K league. But I would definitely say for a bit of a second that football got a little foggy for me."
Jackson was a promising athlete out of Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, where he used his 6-foot-4 frame to snag 12 touchdowns, but poor grades forced him to begin his collegiate career at the JUCO level with Arizona Western.
The former receiver quickly grew homesick in the Arizona desert, just miles from the US border, and returned home months later. Ebbony recalled to The Athletic her son's various vocational pursuits with football, including an incredulous stance on her son's pro gaming pursuits.
She was elated to discover her son's penchant for slicing ham, earning his Employee of the Month award, but Jackson soon found another opportunity at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas where he started to cultivate Division I interest as a defensive back.
Jackson made one more community college pit-stop at East Mississippi Community College, home of Netflix's "Last Chance U," before ultimately swooning to the pedigree of Nick Saban and Alabama . The rangy defensive back played two seasons in Tuscaloosa, playing in 12 games as Alabama reached the 2021 national title game.
He sought out a more personable environment for his senior season, committing to Dan Lanning's Oregon program and totaling 34 tackles, three interceptions and a pair of sacks. Jackson was ultimately selected with the 108th overall pick in April's NFL Draft, a bit lower than his third-round projection, but called his mother immediately after learning of his move to Minnesota.
Ebbony confirmed the death to TMZ Saturday, detailing that her son had passed in their Upper Marlboro hometown and that she was notified at 4 a.m. ET that morning.
Maryland State Police also confirmed that Jackson, Isaiah Hazel and Anthony Lytton, who also played Division I football at Charlotte and Penn State respectively, were forced into a collision early Saturday morning after another motorist hit their vehicle while attempting to change lanes at a high speed.
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