In his heart he always knew he wanted to play college basketball.Tri-Country’s Charles Jackson made it official on Monday when he signed his national letter of intent to play for Illinois.
‘He told me last summer that he wanted to play college basketball,’ said Seth Berl, Jackson’s AAU basketball coach. ‘I told him coming form South Georgia it’s tough. We have talked about 20 times, and he’s never changed his mind. His decision might have surprised some people.’
Those people are the ones that thought the 6-foot-8, 245-pound Jackson would play football next season at an Atlantic Coast Conference or Southeastern Conference school, but not basketball at a Big Ten university.
‘Basketball was always in the picture,’ Tri-County basketball coach John McFather said. ‘For a while he was considering playing both. He came to realization that it’s tough to excel in both.’
Jackson’s final three schools were Illinois, Penn State and Nevada-Las Vegas. McFather said it came down to the two Big Ten schools.
‘Illinois is a championship program,’ Jackson said. ‘The players practice with the intensity and have a hunger to win. The coaches don’t need to motivate them. I want to be a part of that.’
Making his decision was easy an one as Penn State is rebuilding under second-year coach Ed
DeChellis, while the Fighting Illini are perennially a NCAA tournament team.