How Dolphins rookie Austin Jackson saved his sister, now hopes to save his QBs from hits
The Dolphins hope new left tackle Austin Jackson will save quarterback Tua Tagovailoa from ravenous pass rushers for the next decade.
Less than a year ago, Jackson saved his sister from something far more frightening: a rare genetic disorder that prevents bone marrow from producing red blood cells.
Autumn Jackson, who’s 18 and two years younger than Austin, suffers from Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA), a condition that prevents bone marrow from producing red blood cells and required Autumn to undergo blood transfusions every three weeks for five years. Autumn occasionally required hospitalization when her body rejected the blood.
According to dbafoundation.org, only 25 to 35 new cases are discovered each year in North America.
Last summer, her condition was deteriorating, and Jackson knew he needed to step in. Jackson was identified as a perfect match on the 12 criteria needed to be her donor for a bone marrow transplant.
So he left on-campus workouts with teammates last June to return to the Phoenix area to essentially quarantine for a couple of weeks, to ensure he would be healthy at the time of the procedure. He worked out mostly alone at a gym on a community college campus and at his high school, then underwent the procedure in July to remove bone marrow from his lower back.
“The decision to do that for Autumn was difficult in the sense of the obstacles that stood in front of me and her,” Jackson said. “It feels good to be able to help. There’s no better feeling.”
Autumn Jackson told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi that “I didn’t doubt he wanted to do it for me, but it was a relief to know that he would. I’m doing amazing. I’ve made a full recovery. Once July comes around, it will be a year, so I’ll be good.”
Even after the procedure, Jackson was cleared to begin Southern Cal’s training camp with the rest of his teammates on Aug. 3.
“The doctors I worked with never had a bone marrow transplant patient return to football within a month after doing the procedure,” he said.
Southern Cal offensive line coach Tim Drevno said, in a phone interview with the Miami Herald, that “we brought Austin back slowly. Maybe two weeks before the first game he started practicing at a high level. We were very cautious and protective of him to make sure he was ready.”
At the NFL Combine, Jackson said the bone marrow procedure affected him early last season.
“I couldn’t squat with any weight on my back until about the fourth game of the season,” he said.
But he allowed only 11 quarterback pressures all season and impressed NFL teams.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Drevno said. “He’s got really good initial quickness, really good athletic ability, good speed, good recoverability, which involves balance and feet and feel. He’s an elite athlete. He still has a lot of growth, but his ceiling is so high. He will be a great player in the NFL.”
What’s more, Drevno said, “he was very good in the [meeting and film] room learning stuff. And he’s mature. Anybody who would give bone marrow to his sister, he understands the value of life. He’s selfless. He has a humility about him. He’s respectful.”
Drevno said Jackson is “probably a little farther ahead in pass blocking” than run blocking “because we do a lot more passing at USC. Both areas he needs to improve on.”
In the Trojans’ Holiday Bowl loss to Iowa last December, Jackson allowed two sacks to defensive end A.J. Epenesa (who was selected 54th overall by the Buffalo Bills), and Drevno said he and Jackson pinpointed why that happened.
“He has to kick longer, stay square,” Drevno said. “A lot of [offensive tackles] want to turn too soon. When you set and that guy becomes even with your outside shoulder, take one more kick and try to expand him.”
But Drevno said Jackson didn’t play poorly in that game.
“I was watching two great players battling against each other,” Drevno said. “There was one time Epenesa’s towel was on Austin’s side of the line of scrimmage. He threw the towel back at Epenesa. Epenesa then threw it back on him, and Austin threw it back on his side. Austin was embracing the competitive demeanor. I loved it. It was like, ‘You ain’t messing with me.’ Those are the competitors you want.”
Jackson turned pro after his junior year and said, after Miami drafted him, that “I feel like since I’ve made the decision to leave and train for the NFL, my strength and athleticism has just gone up 10 times what it was. The ceiling is incredibly high, and I think I can get as much as I put into it, which will be a lot. I love the game more than anything and I feel like it’s just taken my life to places I’ve never imagined.”
Drevno said Jackson is big enough (6-7, 322 pounds), but “needs to improve on his core strength.”
Drevno coached six-time Pro Bowl guard Joe Staley during three years as the San Francisco 49ers offensive line coach and said “Austin reminds me a lot of Joe Staley. Joe would make a mistake and he wouldn’t repeat it again. That’s Austin Jackson.”
The Dolphins are hopeful that Jackson, selected 18th overall, will be able to start at left tackle as a rookie.
Though he will be 2,400 miles from his sister when training camp starts, Austin will be keeping an eye on Autumn, who has completed high school in Phoenix and is now planning for college.
“My mom is constantly reminding her that 93 percent of her blood makeup is me,” Jackson told WSVN-Fox 7. “We reminisce and get super deep. Our relationship now, [there’s] a whole lot of excitement for all of us. It’s just a real big relief to know that she’s feeling better. We’re really happy about it.”
Here’s my Dolphins 6-pack with notes on Tua, the team’s offseason program and more.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 2:39 PM.
