Pulling Rank at the Post : Naval Stint Helps D. J. Jackson Anchor Antelope Valley Team

D.J. Jackson admits that there were a few occasions during his four-year Navy enlistment when he second-guessed his decision to pass on college after graduating from high school in 1986.

Now a standout freshman power forward who leads Antelope Valley College in scoring and rebounding, Jackson, 24, remembers several instances in the Navy when his college career seemed so far away it hurt to think about it.

There were times he was assigned to rigorous cross-training deployments with the Marines in the woods of North Carolina for three to five weeks in a row.

“Cross-training with the Marines was the hardest thing I have ever done,” Jackson said of the deployments at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base. “My feet weren’t used to combat boots (and) I wasn’t used to sleeping outside for three to five weeks and having to use the bathroom in the woods. . . .

“I remember one time I was lying outside in the woods watching the stars. I was like, ‘Man, I should have taken myself to college.’ ”

In the final analysis, Jackson has no regrets about his time in the Navy. Despite credentials as an all-state player in high school, Jackson believes his military experience was the best move he could have made for himself and his basketball career.

After all, where else but in the run-and-gun world of armed forces basketball can a 6-foot-8 post player learn to develop the skills of a sharpshooting perimeter player?

“I definitely feel that I will go further now (after serving in the Navy),” said Jackson, who played basketball for his Jacksonville, Fla., base team as well as the prestigious All-Armed Forces club. “I’m a natural post player and that’s all I played in high school. But when I got to the Navy, I got the freedom to start shooting it (from the perimeter).”

Nearly two years after he completed his enlistment in February, 1990, Jackson is demonstrating an eye-opening style of offensive play that features the moves of a skilled post player and the outside scoring of a three-point shooter.

In 19 games for the defending Foothill Conference champion Marauders (11-10, 5-1 in conference play), the 210-pound Jackson is averaging 28.9 points and 11.7 rebounds a game. He has hit on 36 of 107 three-point attempts.

The only criticism of Jackson’s play has been his defense. But that might be more a result of his offensive capabilities simply overshadowing his defensive skills.

“Without a doubt, he’s the most skilled 6-8 player I’ve seen in a while,” Antelope Valley Coach Newton Chelette said. “If a smaller player is on him, we try to take advantage by posting him up. If someone big is on him, we’ll use a screen to free him up outside. I don’t think you’ll find many 6-8 guys who can shoot from the perimeter like he can.”

Canyons Coach Lee Smelser agrees. “He’s one of the better shooters we’ve faced,” he said. “I see him as more of an outside player because he certainly has the shooting touch.”

Jackson, a B-plus student who is on schedule to receive his Associate of Arts degree this summer, has narrowed his college choices to seven with DePaul, Louisiana State and San Diego State at the top of his list.

“I took the long route, but I’m getting it done,” he said.

Born in Montgomery, Ala., Darrin “D.J.” Jackson traveled extensively as a youth because of the nature of his father’s job in communications for the Army.

During his high school career, in fact, Jackson earned all-state honors in two states--at Junction City High in Kansas (as a junior in ‘84-85) and at Northview High of Dothan, Ala., in his senior year.

“I’m used to being in a place a certain while and then up and leaving,” he said.

Although he was recruited by some small NCAA Division I schools during his senior year, Jackson’s dreams of playing “big-time” college basketball didn’t get a chance to materialize because he never took the American College Testing examination needed to get into a four-year school.

“He was a big dreamer and I don’t think he got what he felt he should have in terms of recruiting,” Northview Coach Donald Tribue said. “There was no doubting his ability. (But) he had some maturing to do.”

Jackson agrees: “My father said, ‘If you were more mature, you would have taken that (ACT) test.’ So he got me to enter the Navy.”

As a hospital corpsman in the service, Jackson studied phlebotomy--the practice of bloodletting as a therapeutic measure--and worked at a blood bank in Jacksonville. Today he has enough training to pursue a career in phlebotomy.

The Navy also afforded Jackson the opportunity to work on his basketball trade as he competed for base teams and ultimately earned a place on the All-Armed Forces team.

The AAF, comprising the top two players from each of the Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard, traveled to countries such as China, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia.

“That (playing basketball) is basically what you did until the season was over and you went back to your regular job,” said Jackson, who played two seasons with the team. “We played some 50-odd games a season.”

After his enlistment ended, Jackson signed a scholarship offer to play at San Jacinto Junior College in Pasadena, Tex., for the 1990-91 school year. But, after three weeks at San Jacinto, Jackson grew dissatisfied with the program and returned to Dothan. It was then that he contacted the coaching staff at Antelope Valley, which had lost out to San Jacinto when it first tried to recruit Jackson.

Jackson, who receives financial support for college through the GI Bill, entered Antelope Valley as a student in the spring of 1991 and roomed with Marauder standout J.R. Rider, now at Nevada Las Vegas.

When his chance finally came to play this season, Jackson ran with the opportunity like somebody who had waited five years to play college basketball.

“D.J. has definitely been a leader,” Chelette said. “He’s a quality person who’s a great basketball player. That’s a nice combination to have.”