Northrop forward Destiny Jackson has committed to continue her basketball career and education at San Jose State. She announced her commitment via Twitter on last night. Jackson plans to major in Kinesiology.
“I want to potentially be a physical therapist, and [SJSU] had Kinesiology, which is something I’m really interested in,” Jackson said. “And also, going and playing with the team, they do have a lot of connections to go play overseas and play professionally. They have an assistant coach whose dad is actually a WNBA assistant coach.”
Jackson did not get a chance to visit San Jose State before the Coronavirus Pandemic started. However, she was able to keep in contact with the school through means such as phone calls, FaceTime calls, and Zoom video meetings.
“What stood out about them is…not only did they keep up communication consistently, but they really connected with me more as a person,” Jackson said. “I got a few players’ numbers, and I texted the players…and they’re very, very welcoming of me. That’s really what stood out, just them connecting with me as a person more than a basketball player.”
With San Jose State being in California, Jackson does expect that it will be challenging adjusting to the long distance from friends and family. Nonetheless she does look forward to the opportunity to further her education and basketball career.
“I expect it to be a big challenge, but it’s really just a blessing to even go to college,” Jackson said. “So whether it’s this far or whether it’s in town, it’s just a blessing to go that far and have an opportunity like I have, so I’m really excited.”
The Spartans are coached by Jamie Craighead, a University of Oregon alum. She made 182 three-pointers in her career with the Ducks (which was second all-time in school history at the time). Craighead will begin her eighth season at SJSU in 2020-21. She led the Spartans to a 19-12 record this past year, a vast improvement from a six-win campaign in 2018-19.
“The woman is extremely competitive, and that’s really what I am,” Jackson said. “She was very straight-up with me in my recruiting process and just told me, ‘you’ve gotta come here and be ready to work your butt off. It’s not that we’re giving you an offer now, it’s time to chill, that means you need to turn it up even more.’ It’s more of a mentality with Coach JC than anything.”
In each of her last two seasons at Northrop, Jackson has averaged over eleven points per game and shot 45% or better from the field. She has also led the Bruins in rebounding each of the last two seasons. Even though Rashida Muhammad has stepped down as head coach, Jackson looks forward to her senior season at Northrop.
“We did just have a huge change in our coaching staff, but the way I look at it it’s the same goal it’s just a different coaching staff,” Jackson said. “So it’s the same goal as far as getting out of that sectional and then seeing how far we can get.”
