EAGAN, Minn. — Donovan Jackson can finally update his employment status.

The former Ohio State Buckeyes offensive lineman was picked 24^th overall Thursday night in the 2025 NFL Draft and flew from his home state of Texas to Minnesota on Friday morning for his first day at his new job.

Obviously, it was different than what most will entail: Jackson, with his parents Todd and Melanie and girlfriend Gracie Hart, toured Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, got a sense of the Vikings state-of-the-art headquarters, and addressed local media for the first time in-person since getting "the call."

Jackson, an All-American and National Champion in 2024, was the third projected guard taken in the opening round after Alabama's Tyler Booker flew off the board to Dallas at 12 and North Dakota State's Grey Zabel was chosen 18^th overall by Seattle. Jackson primarily lined up inside at Ohio State but also manned the edge for nine games last season to cover for injured teammate Josh Simmons, who also was drafted Thursday.

Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah highlighted Jackson's selflessness in playing wherever the Buckeyes needed him, as well as his proficiency in the run and pass phases before handing off to Jackson.

"I'd like to thank God for this opportunity to wear such a prestigious color. I'd like to thank Vikings ownership for taking the chance on a kid in Columbus, Ohio," Jackson said after posing for photos with his new No. 74 jersey. "But I couldn't have gotten this far [without] my parents; they've sacrificed so much for me whether it was driving me to and from school, to and from workouts, lessons, anything of the sort; staying on me, whether it be academically, athletically, or just being a respectable young man.

"I wouldn't be here without their guidance," Jackson continued.

The newest Vikings offensive lineman also shouted out his former coaches for preparing him mentally and physically, and the Ohio State University for setting him up to reach this next chapter in his journey.

Jackson had visited Minnesota twice previously – once for his first college game against the Golden Gophers in 2021 and this spring for a Top 30 visit, in which he walked away with a tremendous feeling.

"I understand it's not like college; you can't commit to an organization. But I told my agent, 'If we can, I really want to go to Minnesota,' " Jackson shared. "I'm blessed to have it all work out in the way I wanted. And I'm in a place where I'm needed, and wanted, so I'm just ready to get to work and help win games."

Not even 24 hours after having his and his family's lives changed, Jackson started to soak it all up.

"When I got the call, I was like, 'Man, like, that's really cool.' And then I got here, I was like, 'Man, this is like my first day at work,'" Jackson said with an offensive-line-sized smile. "That was a pretty cool feeling.

"I always joked with my parents throughout this process, like 'Oh no, you've gotta let me stay [at home] because I'm unemployed,'" he continued very tongue-in-cheek, "but now I actually have a job. It's a lot more real now. I'm just really excited to get to work and get to know everybody in the locker room."

After the pick Thursday, Adofo-Mensah said Jackson was on his radar as far back as the 2023 season, when he contemplated early entry to the NFL Draft, and noted there was year-over-year improvement, particularly in terms of his reactiveness and athleticism, which was especially evident going against and battling with No. 3 overall selection Abdul Carter in Jackson's first college start at left tackle in early November.

The tape confirmed to Adofo-Mensah he was "the kind of athlete I really believed was under the hood."

There's two aspects of the mid-season shift to left tackle that Jackson made in his final college campaign that are stunning: Firstly, his coaches asked him – and let him decide – to fill in after 32^nd overall pick Josh Simmons and Simmons' backup suffered injuries; Jackson weighed his coaches' honesty and a spiel from his agent, that essentially outlined the risks and rewards of changing to a position he hadn't played since high school. Ultimately, in a matter of two days, Jackson said his mind was made up.

"They said, 'Well, if you do well, this might happen. If you do bad, this might happen,'" Jackson recalled.

"But you know, at the end of the day, I just wanted to help the team win more than anything else," he added. "It doesn't matter what my goals are, as long as the team wins and my goals are set aside.

"Of course, there was a little bit of a learning curve. I had to drop that leg back a little bit, be able to step in space. But this came from a mentality of, 'I just want to help the team win,'" Jackson added about the switch. "My dad taught me from a young age, like, 'If you're going to do anything, you better do it to the best of your ability, because one, I'm paying for it, and two, you carry the Jackson name on your back and that name carries not only yourself, but all those who came before you.' So I knew if I'm moving out, I had to switch my mindset of being a guard to tackle. I had to tell myself, 'No, you're a tackle.' I couldn't give myself an excuse mentally. Just really anything to help the team win, that was my main goal."

The second aspect that shouldn't be forgotten is Jackson is capable of doing both at a high level – i.e. playing inside and blocking defenders in a phone booth, or stymying longer, more athletic edge players.

When asked if he sees the switch as an isolated incident, Jackson quipped, "I'll play whatever position that is required of me. Just like in college, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win."

Jackson elaborated: "It stems from just me hating to lose more than the love to win. You know, I have that competitive fire in myself that [whatever's needed of] me, whether it be moving out to another position, I'm willing to do so if that means we can win games."

While that's his priority as a teammate, there's more Jackson finds joy in on the field than winning. He's fond of the uniqueness of playing offensive line, in that if a person misses an assignment, it may spoil the play – and likewise, if all five guys are on the same page and execute in unison, great things are likely to happen.

"Any play, whether it be good or bad, you've got to live and die by. So seeing those long runs, the perfect pocket so the quarterback can step through his throw instead of throwing off his back foot, seeing all those big plays happen, you've gotta take pride in that," Jackson said. "You've gotta take pride in what you do as offensive linemen – as a man."

When asked Thursday why a guard, which has been devalued by some compared to other positions, was worthy of the 24^th pick, Adofo-Mensah nodded at a rise in athleticism on the flip side of the trenches, and detailed a possible league-wide, run-game resurgence.

"The [defensive] interior guys are getting more athletic, so in theory, the other guys should be getting more athletic and more skilled as well as that market goes up," Adofo-Mensah explained. "I think that's a part of it. And again, same thing with, I think football moves in these cycles like, pleated pants and flat fronts. Now the run game is cool again, right? So we're going back to it and getting the foundation, the roots of the run game while we start with those interior guys and that could be a part of it as well."

Shortly after Adofo-Mensah, O'Connell said that picking Jackson stamped a plan Minnesota set out to accomplish; one that was put into motion once the 2024 season ended – and now has exceeded what was reasonable, according to O'Connell thanks to a splurge in free agency and the drafting of Jackson.

Again, Minnesota's offensive line was reconstructed to account for dynamism along NFL defensive lines.

"In our league nowadays, every single team, it feels like I talk to you guys every week, and it's another week where I'm talking about interior impact defensive players with length and explosiveness and athleticism, and you have to be able to combat that with strength and the body type like Donovan has," said O'Connell, "and then thinking, envisioning him being on a front with potentially Ryan Kelly and Christian Darrisaw, Will Fries and Brian O'Neill, that's a pretty formidable group on paper.

"We've got to make it come to life on the grass," O'Connell emphasized.

That thought process isn't lost on Jackson, who was a 40-game starter for Ohio State and has had a front-row seat to the evolution of defensive linemen, and knows it impacts how o-linemen are trained.

"You know, football changes," Jackson said. "It's one of the beautiful things about it. And the defensive line changes. So offensive lines have to change along with that. At Ohio State, we kind of focused on more of the athletic type and then building them up through strength and agility from that point. So I was blessed enough to come in with both of those aspects. I was able to hit the ground running a little bit. But I have great coaches over there — Coach [Justin] Frye, Coach [Mike] Sollenne, Coach [Tim] Drevno. They helped me a whole lot, especially [the] last year, what we wanted to do in that year."

"The beauty of football," said Jackson, is that "the game is never stagnant. You always have to grow. You always have to improve in what you're doing. So all aspects of my game I want to improve in; there's not one point where I'm satisfied or content [with] what I'm doing on the football field."

As far as the bright lights accompanying the next level, Jackson supplied a good reason why he's unfazed.

"I [went] against great guys every day who are currently still in this draft and hopefully, you know, they get picked where they, God willing, where they want to be," Jackson said in reference to Ohio State preparing him for the NFL. "But in terms of all that stress, man, Coach [Ryan] Day always said, 'Pressure is always a privilege.' People watch, and they expect things from you, and that's what [creates] pressure. But if you come in prepared, if you come in every day – ready to go – then pressure doesn't happen."

From his championship performance and character, to his strong support staff and selflessness, it's easily understood a day after standing pat and making its selection at No. 24 why Minnesota must be feeling optimistic about adding Jackson to its culture of tough, smart players who love football.

"It's funny, the draft starts, and there's all these names on the wall and endless possibilities, and then they start [coming off the board]," said O'Connell, recalling his emotion in the moment. "And it seems like those 10 minutes go by really fast, and there's another one, and there's another one, and you just kind of get a picture, you know, whether it's five, 10, 15 picks out of what it might look like at 24.

"I was very, very excited to see Donovan still available when our number came up," O'Connell concluded.

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