East Texan Landon Jackson was jewel of the draft for Bills
Published 6:23 pm Wednesday, July 2, 2025
The floor of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis during the annual scouting combine was a hub of activity for the 40-yard dash, on-field drills and jumps. Coincidently, the Buffalo Bills’ suite overlooked the vertical jump station in late February.
It was the close-up view that helped convince the Bills they needed to draft Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson.
Wearing a No. 52 sleeveless shirt, Jackson’s second vertical measured 40½ inches. Forty-and-a-half inches by a 264-pound prospect. The Bills’ two assistant general managers were smitten.
“The place just exploded,” Brian Gaine said.
“It was a ‘wow’ moment,” Terrance Gray said.
The place exploded in awe and was a wow moment because Jackson was doing skill-position things in a defensive end’s body. Athletically freaky, Jackson also showed the Bills he could be an off-field culture fit and they drafted him in the third round to provide instant pass-rushing/run-stopping depth.
Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich had been around Jackson for six weeks when he rubber-stamped him as a worker.
“A true professional,” Babich said. “Mature beyond his years.”
Jackson was mature enough at 14 to play in a Texas state championship game. At 20, he was mature enough to know LSU wasn’t for him. And since his mid-teens, he has shown impressive maturity and awareness in serving as a role model for kids with alopecia, showing them that the condition may result in hair loss, but doesn’t limit hopes and dreams.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “Growing up with the same stress and anxiety those kids have, I want to be there for them.”
He was as a high school and college student and wants to be as a professional football player.
At age 5, Jackson was diagnosed with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles, leading to patchy and eventually total hair loss on the head and body.
According to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAFC), about 2% of people worldwide will experience alopecia areata at some point in their life. It doesn’t discriminate, impacting all ages, genders and ethnic groups.
Pro athletes with alopecia include former NBA player Charlie Villanueva, former NFL player Ryan Shazier and current New England Patriots back-up quarterback Joshua Dobbs. It doesn’t impact an individual physically, but the mental/stigma side can take a toll.
Jeff Woytovich decided to do something about it in 2004.
Woytovich’s wife, Betsy, was diagnosed with alopecia in 1976, and the second-oldest of their four daughters, Madison, started to lose her hair in kindergarten. Jeff saw a void in providing support to young people and raising awareness – chiefly, that it wasn’t cancer – about the condition and founded the Children’s Alopecia Project (CAP).
“The goal was to have something that could help kids with their self-esteem and confidence,” Woytovich said during a phone interview.
Woytovich and CAP began hearing from school administrators and teachers who asked for assistance with a student who had alopecia, but the process would face resistance from the child’s parents. Often, CAP would never hear back.
“Their culture was to not talk about it in public and, ‘We’ll wear a hat and make sure nobody knows about it,’” Woytovich said. “I want every kid who has this to say, ‘Yes, I have alopecia. It’s not a big deal. I’m doing fine. I can do whatever I want.’ ”
Jackson quickly adopted that lane.
Jackson wouldn’t wear his cap low to cover where his eyebrows would be. He wouldn’t retreat when asked about it. Instead, he became a role model for kids with alopecia in Texarkana and throughout the region. A parent called the high school about wanting Jackson to visit their child? He would drive the two-hour round trip.
“When a kid needed something from him, Landon would check that box,” said Josh Gibson, Jackson’s coach at Pleasant Grove High School.
Jackson had transferred from LSU to Arkansas in 2022 when his management group contacted Woytovich about doing outreach work. CAP was having an event in the Los Angeles area – they have an annual national camp (“Alopeciapalooza”) and 10 regional events per year – and invited Jackson.
The connection was instant.
“He was an inspiration,” said Woytovich, who has traveled to all 50 states, England, France, South Africa, Mexico and Canada on behalf of CAP. “Anytime there is a young person like Landon who has gone through it and he’s still OK bringing it up, that’s a positive. Landon was totally natural. He’s very comfortable in his skin and he’s a super nice guy. That resonated.”
Jackson made a $5,000 donation to CAP after the event and said shortly after being drafted by the Bills that he was already being contacted about events in the area. His wife, Grace, was helping organize the requests. He hopes to start a foundation.
“He’s a great catalyst for (raising) awareness,” Woytovich said.
Gibson, the Pleasant Grove coach, remembers the first time he saw Jackson play football. Jackson was in middle school and already north of 6-feet tall and significantly south of 200 pounds. His eighth-grade team won only two games, but Gibson saw enough to be excited about Jackson’s potential, so much so that he made the “extremely rare” decision to play Jackson on the varsity as a freshman.
Pleasant Grove competed in Class 4A Division II, the fifth-biggest of Texas’ 12 football classifications, and routinely drew 5,000-plus fans on a Friday night, packing the grandstand and grassy knoll and every free space for standing room fans.
Jackson started as a freshman and set the school sack record (11½) in helping the Hawks to their first state championship (16-0 record). In the title game, Pleasant Grove ended West Orange-Stark’s 40-game win streak and quest for a three-peat title with a 41-21 win. Attendance at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, was 20,851.
“On the biggest stage, we were there to upset them and watching Landon get a sack, that play will always stick out because he let Texas know, ‘I’m here and I’m going to be here for the next three years and be a force,’” Gibson said.
Jackson was a force, helping the Hawks to seasons of 13-3 (state runner-up; he missed the final seven games with a torn anterior cruciate ligament) and 15-1 (state title) before a 9-4 season that was derailed by a broken ankle. He finished his high school career with 45 sacks.
In his final two college seasons, current Bills defensive end Landon Jackson had 13 total sacks for Arkansas.
A four-star recruit, Jackson shortened his list to nine schools, including Arkansas and 2019 national champion LSU. He ultimately was swayed by LSU’s NFL player producing factory and coach/master recruiter Ed Orgeron.
Jackson, though, simply couldn’t get out of the blocks in Baton Rouge. He enrolled early for the 2021 spring semester, but worked in isolation while rehabilitating the aforementioned ankle fracture. He played in five games and didn’t record a statistic before sustaining another ACL tear.
“It was definitely one of the hardest years of my life,” Jackson said. “An emotional time.”
Orgeron was fired after the season and replaced by Brian Kelly, who Jackson first met during a recruiting visit to Notre Dame. After a meeting with Kelly, Jackson entered the transfer portal and his phone buzzed nearly instantly. Literally.
Just as coaches were calling Gibson in Texarkana to express their interest, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman called Jackson as he was walking from the LSU football office to his car. Yes, that’s how fast the portal blasts out names.
Pittman wanted Jackson to visit the upcoming weekend and Jackson told him he would not schedule any other meetings/visits until after his trip to Fayetteville. It was his only visit. He was a Razorback, playing for the program 240 miles north of Texarkana.
Having grown to 6-7 and depending on the day, from 260-280 pounds, Jackson played three years for Arkansas, totaling 16 sacks in 37 games. He was first-team All-SEC in 2023 and second-team last year. He became the face of the program and two-time captain.
“That was by far one of my biggest accomplishments, knowing that I had the respect of my teammates and coaches to trust me to speak for the team,” Jackson said. “That was something I didn’t take lightly.”
Back to the scouting combine and Jackson’s vertical jump tour de force. During his training, Jackson was reaching the high 30s and he set a goal to reach 39-plus inches in Indianapolis. The first attempt was 38½ inches.
“The scout (supervising the drill) said, ‘You swatted at it – keep your arms straight and tap (the mark) and there’s no way you won’t get to 40,’ ” Jackson said.
The 40½-inch mark led all edge defenders and was tied for sixth-best among all participants.
“Everybody seemed pretty impressed and I was amped up,” Jackson said.
The physical testing is just one block in building a final verdict. The Bills didn’t see the need in visiting Jackson for a private workout or bringing him to Orchard Park for a visit. They had seen enough on tape and in-person and heard enough by talking to Jackson and calling those who were around him.
Jackson was the only member of this Bills draft class to receive a “Bills Blue” designation, reserved for prospects who match every desirable on- and off-the-field attribute. Previous “Bills Blue” recipients include quarterback Josh Allen, receiver Khalil Shakir and linebacker Terrel Bernard.
“(Jackson is) a guy who is easy to love,” said Gray, the Bills’ executive. “I remember going to (Arkansas) and talking to (Pittman) and he just said about Landon, ‘This guy is a can’t miss, can’t-fail type of kid.’”
Jackson felt a connection with the Bills during the pre-draft process, which made the third-round call more special. A dream was realized – Jackson was headed to the NFL. And the dream was going to be realized with the Bills – a perennial power.
Jackson was overcome with emotion while accepting the Bills’ call.
“I wasn’t really expecting that,” he said. “I don’t know if I would have gotten that emotional if it was a different team. I felt it was going to be Buffalo throughout the process.”
The Bills told Jackson they want him to play in the range of 275-280 pounds, which will give the coaching staff the option of moving him inside in certain situations. When training camp starts July 22, Jackson will compete for rotational playing time. Greg Rousseau, Joey Bosa and A.J. Epenesa are the top three and Jackson could slot in at No. 4 because of Michael Hoecht’s six-game suspension.
After the draft, Jackson stayed in Texarkana to be honored at his high school stadium – his No. 40 jersey was retired. His impact is still felt at Pleasant Grove, in the Texarkana area, at Arkansas and nationwide. Those individuals expect the same in Buffalo and Western New York. Good player who can become great? Potentially. A great person and alopecia advocate already? Definitely.
“Landon has an elite work ethic and he’s an awesome, awesome human being,” Gibson said. “People in Buffalo are going to love this guy. They got a jewel, for sure.”
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