Pasha Jackson Journal

Sooner linebacker Pasha Jackson will take Sooner fans behind the scenes as Oklahoma plays its 2003 season. This is the third installment of his weekly journal. We've also added a link so you can submit your own questions for Pasha to respond to in his next entry.

Pasha Jackson
Journal Entry No. 3 (Sept. 24, 2003)
Our last game was a great game. I knew going into it that it was going to special. I was really anticipating facing UCLA finally -- and to do so as a Sooner, not for USC (like I had dreamed as a kid).

It seems like I say this every week, but it was nice to see us dominate like we did on Saturday. It makes us feel real comfortable to win like we did against a team like UCLA. Not because it was an ambition of mine to go up against the Bruins and beat them but because of the timing of the win.

We head into our bye week now and you want to be coming off a bye week in impressive fashion. That way, hopefully, the coaches take it a little bit easier on ya. But seriously, we are going to work hard again this week and then enjoy the weekend off.

Going into the conference schedule, we are feeling good about ourselves still being undefeated. Also, it is great to go into conference ranked No. 1. Better than that, we showed why on Saturday against UCLA!

Let me tell you one thing about Saturday, it was outstanding to watch how Antonio (Perkins) performed. I had first hand experience on his first return blocking on special teams. That is what I like to see especially after the way everyone focused on the play of our special teams from the Fresno game.

Against UCLA, we did not have a blocked punt, we were 100 percent on PATS and they had zero yards on their punt returns. We did have a little breakup on our kick returns, but other than that, our special teams really stepped it up for us.

I have never seen anything like what Perkins did. I didn't even know it could be done. He's the type of guy to do that and the crowd was really into it and that just broke down UCLA and opened up the game for us. Now we've got a bye week and we will put emphasis on the next opponent and keep conditioning throughout the week.

It is a time to get a little bit of rest and to be just a student -- which is a lot easier when you don't have to worry about a game on Saturday. But come Saturday, I know I am down for anything! We appreciate the bye week for sure. It is a time to mend all the bruises and prepare for the Big 12 season. That is what is nice about the bye week for us -- it always seems to come right before the conference portion of the schedule starts and it gives us that little bit of extra time to prepare for the meat and potatoes of the season.

Instead of a game to worry about this week, I have a test in crime and punishment to study for and I'm actually thinking about it right now. That is one of my favorite classes so hopefully it will not be too bad.

My major is sociology, and am wrapped up in all kinds of "Soc" classes. This semester, I have 15 hours and, among some other classes, I am taking sociology of gender, research methods and crime and punishment. I pretty much have been doing the big class load throughout college and when I first got here it was hard -- I won't lie! Now, it is definitely a lot easier since I adjusted to it all.

There are seldom days like we have coming up on Friday, where all we have is class and no practice. We can just go home, rest and maybe watch some TV -- all that stuff you use to take advantage of before being totally committed to football. But there is really a big difference when talking about coming from (San Francisco) City College to OU.

I am doing a lot better this semester then last year. It was just overwhelming at first when I got here and really all you have to do is be a master of your time schedule and organize your different priorities. But all and all, my classes are going real well!

What else is going on besides school and football? Oh, my parents were in town for the UCLA game -- so they are currently 2-for-4 on attending games this year. So they are shooting around 50 percent, which is not too bad when you consider they are coming from Cali.

The North Texas game was the other one they made it out to. So I had them in town and the house smelled good to say the least. Unlike before when it smelled like socks and my pet turtle. My house always smells like turtle, so it was good to have the smell of some home cooking around. Other than that, nothing else really new is going on.

Well I guess it's about time to start studying for my test. Hope everyone enjoys the off-week because I know we will. Go Sooners!

Pasha

- #53 Pasha Jackson

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