Blake Jackson 'blessed' to be back at South Carolina in final season of a six-year journey

This wasn’t always how Blake Jackson envisioned his college baseball career going.

The Coppell, Texas native started his career at Missouri, where he played for four games in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down as well as his time with the Tigers. Jackson then moved back to Texas to play at McLennan Community College in Waco, which is a little under two hours south of Coppell.

After helping McLennan win the NJCAA national championship in 2021, Jackson left his home state for a second time to transfer to UNC Charlotte, where he played with the 49ers from 2022-23. He set the program record for most hit-by-pitches in a season with 18 in 2023.

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Jackson transferred again ahead of the 2024 season, this time only one state away to South Carolina. He had a solid year with a career-best slash line of .293/.465/.483 with five homers and 27 RBI. That could’ve been where this chapter ended. But he still has one more story left to tell.

In what will be his sixth and final season, Jackson is back at South Carolina in 2025. Even when the new coaching staff came aboard last summer, he had no intentions of picking up and moving again while still in school.

“I knew I was going to be back. One, I was tired of transferring. That process is awful,” Jackson told GamecockCentral. “I love South Carolina and it felt like home. We had a lot of unfinished business — I wasn’t happy with how the season ended. I felt like I had more in the tank to give to this university.”

With his return for another season, Jackson is the oldest player at South Carolina and one of the oldest in college baseball. At 24 years and 206 days old, he recently finished his last grad school class and will graduate in May. He still has to take a final comprehensive exam before he officially wraps up school. Other than that, he’s now able to solely focus on baseball.

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Ideally, Jackson’s original plan was to go play at the college level for three years and turn pro, which is what every player dreams of doing. Even though things didn’t work out that way, he wouldn’t trade how things have turned out.

“You meet a lot of great people along the way. You make a lot of lifetime friendships,” he said. “Schools you’re at for one year, I was at my junior college for one year. I was in one of my best friend’s weddings this fall.

“I’m blessed to be here. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. God’s plan is bigger than mine and I’m not really in control of that. So I’m just blessed to be here and excited to still be able to play this game.”

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After this season, Jackson said he has no idea what his future plans will be. He could pursue a career in professional baseball. There’s also the option to go into the workforce with his soon-to-be Master’s degree in sport and entertainment management.

Jackson could decide to stick around the game in some capacity, even if he’s no longer playing. In his spare time, he’s been helping out at Arcane Baseball, an indoor training facility located in Columbia.

“I help out with BA (Bryan Anderson). I just help him out and kind of get my feet wet in the working world and do whatever he needs done to get this facility rolling and going and develop players. I also have a lot of connections with kids in the area playing here. So it’s been good to help him out,” Jackson said.

“But I do have a business management degree. I’m getting a sports management Master’s. I don’t know, maybe I switch it up. Maybe I go into coaching, I don’t know. But right now, I’m just focused on trying to get better and win one day at a time.”

Whatever he chooses to do next, Jackson is grateful that his college baseball career has turned out the way it has with one season left to play.

“It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing in disguise,” he said.

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