By Nick Lawler
Ball State Sports Link
As Ball State Sports get into the meat of its seasons, Sports Link is reviving a fan-favorite series: Five Things Your Favorite Athlete Can’t Live Without.
Up first is Ball State Football’s Jayshon Jackson, a transfer from Cincinnati University. Jackson is coming off of his best performance yet as a Cardinal, hauling in 10 passes for 92 yards last week in Laramie, Wyoming.
So, what are the five things that Jackson cannot live without?
1. God
Like millions of others around the world, Jayshon Jackson has relied on his faith in hard times. In fact, Jackson credits his faith to showing him the way to a better self.
“Recently… I had been through a tough time and finding him helped me find myself and become a better person that I could be proud of and my family could be proud of,” Jackson explained.
2. Family
The key to anyone’s success is the support they have had behind them along the way. Jackson did not hesitate to credit his family as something he could not live without.
He would even go on to speak on the way his team felt like a family, saying “we have a strong brotherhood, and we want to play for our brothers.”
3. Friends
Staying close to home, Jackson mentioned friends nearly as quickly as he did the first two. Many think that a main part of anyone’s life is who they spend it with, and Jackson believes this to be true.
The differentiation between family and friends was a close one for Jackson, as he even grouped them together at times to show how important they are to his life.
4. Football
To the surprise of nobody, a Division-1 wide receiver cannot live without football. Thank goodness too, because he has been a huge aid to the Cardinals’ passing game, currently tied with Justin Hall for the team lead in receptions for the season.
In fact, head coach Mike Neu spoke on Jackson’s ability after last weeks game saying, “He just has a knack. He has a good feel. He understands coverage.”
The ‘knack’ for football seems to go beyond just his abilities though. He truly loves the sport that he chooses to play every day.
“Football has become a very important thing to me,” Jackson said. “Ever since I was young.”
5. Books
There seems to be a large gap between number five, and the previous items. Jackson took a second to think about what was most important, although he acknowledged that after the first four that, “everything else is just materialistic things.”
In the end he mentioned that he has, “started to get into books a lot more recently,” which he hopes to continue.
Ball State is back in MACtion this Saturday as they host Toledo at 2 p.m. for family weekend. The Cardinals look to stay undefeated at home, and get ahead of the competition in conference play.
