Davis Jackson, the #5 Recruit in the Class of 2027, Verbally Commits to Cal

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Davis Jackson from Raleigh, North Carolina, has announced his verbal commitment to the University of California, Berkeley,

“After strong consideration, I am filled with gratitude to announce that I will be verbally committing to continue my academic and athletic journey at the University of California, Berkeley! First of all, I would like to thank all my family and friends who have helped support me throughout my swimming endeavor. I would also like to thank Coach Rob, Matt, Bruce, and Blake who have all played a strong role in aiding me towards getting to this point in my swim career. Lastly, I would like to thank Coach Dave, Josh, and the rest of the coaching staff at Cal who have been extremely helpful to me and my family throughout this extensive process, as well as giving me this opportunity to further my swimming career. I am strongly looking forward to being a part of this team and seeing what it has in store for the future! Let’s Go Bears! 🐻”

A junior at Leesville Road High School, Jackson swims for his school and the club team TAC Titans. He specializes in backstroke and IM and leads the cohort in the 200 back with 1:41.91, making him a good fit for the Golden Bears, whose men’s backstroke legacy is legendary (think Ryan Murphy, Keaton Jones, Destin Lasco, Gabriel Jett, et alia).

We ranked Jackson #5 on our Way Too Early list of top boys swimmers in the high school class of 2027.

As a freshman at the 2024 NCHSAA 4A State Championships, he clocked PBs in the 50 back (23.31) and 100 back (49.37) and placed 4th in the 100 back and 11th in the 200 IM (1:54.18). Last season he hit PBs of 22.67 in the 50 back and 1:48.54 in the 200 IM at Regionals (he also won the 100 back with 48.62) at Regionals but did not compete at the state meet.

In March, he picked up lifetime bests in the 200 free (1:40.51 leadoff on the 4×200 relay), 100 back (47.15), 200 back (1:41.91), and 400 IM (3:49.79), and won the 100/200 back and 200/400 IM, at Cary Sectionals. Two weeks later, he put up best times in the 400 free (4:32.86), 100 fly (48.89), and 200 IM (1:46.56) at Tar Heel States.

After a strong long-course season, he competed at TAC Titans’ Summer Sizzler and earned three more PBs in the 50 free (20.59), 100 back (46.64), and 200 back (1:41.28). All told, he had improvements of 1.4 seconds in the 100 back and 5.3 seconds in the 200 back and he finished the swim year ranked #1 in the 200 back (the only sub-1:42 in the cohort and one of only two sub-1:43s) and #3 in the 100 back. He also chopped almost 3 seconds off his 200 IM time and more than 10 seconds off his 400 IM.

Jackson had some big swims in the long-course pool this summer, too, notching PBs of 26.06/55.43/2:01.22 in backstroke, 2:08.23/4:28.22 in IM, and 57.56 in fly.

Best SCY times:

• 100 back – 46.64
• 200 back – 1:41.28
• 200 IM – 1:46.56
• 400 IM – 3:49.79
• 100 fly – 48.89
• 50 free – 20.59

The Golden Bears won the conference title at their inaugural ACC Championships last season, beating runner-up Stanford by more than 200 points. Jackson’s best times would already score in the ‘B’ final of the 200 back and the ‘C’ final of the 100 back.

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