‘It’s been a long path.’ USC cornerback Domani Jackson finally moves past knee injury

When he first hurt his knee two Septembers ago, Domani Jackson was hopeful the injury wouldn’t hamper him long after high school. The top prospect in the state in the class of 2022, he sat out most of his senior season at Santa Ana Mater Dei. But at USC, where towering expectations followed him, Jackson intended to compete right away at cornerback.

It didn’t work out that way. Jackson nursed the knee injury through last summer and the start of fall at USC. He sat out weeks of practice with lingering issues, slipping further and further behind. After seeing 24 snaps on USC’s defense in Weeks 4 and 5, the Trojans top corner prospect didn’t see the field in a game for two more months. He played just 45 snaps during five games as a freshman.

It wasn’t until January, 16 months after suffering his injury, that Jackson says he started to feel like himself again.

“It’s been a long path,” Jackson said Thursday, “but I’m getting over it.”

His ascent certainly can’t come soon enough for the Trojans, whose defensive backfield remains a major question mark. That’s especially true at cornerback, where coaches say the competition has been especially fierce this spring.

“We’ve got more bodies, more talent there,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said.

None may be as talented as Jackson, who tied the California state record in the 100 meters in 2021, a few months before his injury. But where he stands in the pecking order of USC’s secondary for the upcoming season remains to be seen.

USC defensive back Domani Jackson is putting in extra time after spring football practice to help him master the complexities of the Trojans’ defense.

(Michael Owen Baker/For The Times)

The sophomore still has a lot to learn. While he sat out weeks of practice as a freshman, Jackson said he also struggled to pick up the complexities of USC’s defense. He’s tried to rectify that this spring by staying after every practice, drilling whatever he learned that day.

“In high school, I was just physical — out-physicaling everybody, faster than everybody,” Jackson said. “But in college it’s a different story. You have to know the game of football.”

It took time, too, for Jackson to regain confidence in his knee. Jackson admits he still has “a little work to do” in terms of regaining the top-level track speed that once made him one of the fastest prep athletes in the nation.

“I was just struggling come off of knee surgery, just gaining that confidence,” Jackson said. “It plays a big role in your play. My knee, I’m real confident in my knee this year.”

He may still have an uphill climb to a starting spot this season. USC added a grad transfer cornerback in Christian Roland-Wallace, who started the past two seasons at Arizona but has sat out most of spring after twisting his ankle. Jacobe Covington and Prophet Brown have both also been singled out for their play at various points this spring.

But the standout of the secondary so far has been a corner who lost his starting job at the end of last season.

Ceyair Wright had his ups and downs as a redshirt freshman, starting 11 games before sliding down the depth chart for the final three. But the experience, he says, “was really helpful for me.” Riley recently deemed Wright one of the breakout players of the spring.

“Nothing is better than the game, being on the field, getting the speed of the game, you can’t find it anywhere else,” Wright said. “Towards the end of the season, it started to slow down for me last year. But this spring, it’s definitely slowed down for me a lot.”

USC is counting on the rest of its young secondary to make a similar leap this summer. That includes Jackson, who says he welcomes the competition to come at cornerback.

“You’re not just going to walk into a spot,” Jackson said, “so you have to compete every day.”