Back in February 2006, when Andrew Jackson signed to play football for the Fresno State Bulldogs, FSU head coach Pat Hill made it clear that he knew he was getting a high-caliber kid coming out of Nevada Union.

Sure, the athletic ability was as apparent Jackson's rock-solid, 6-foot, 5-inch, 250-pound stature. But Hill wasn't only talking about what Jackson would have to offer on the field.

“In my 10 years here (at Fresno State), he's as good of a recruit as we'll sign — not only as a football player, but as a student athlete and the right kind of person,” Hill said at the time. “We feel fortunate to have a person of Andrew's caliber wearing that red helmet of Fresno State. He's a special, special young man; not just as a football player, but in all areas of his life.”

Nearly four years later, those words seem not only appropriate, but prophetic.

Jackson, now a 6-5, 295-pound, junior right guard, was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first team this week. But perhaps an even bigger honor came the week before, when ESPN chose Jackson as a first team Academic All-American.

“It humbles me to be a recipient of such a prestigious award,” Jackson said of the award. “But it is really a tribute to all those who have taken an active interest in my life and encouraged me to excel in the classroom as well as on the field. A strong work ethic was instilled in me at a young age by my father, mother, brothers, and grandparents. I thank them for this gift and all those who have provide me with the tools to succeed.

“This includes current and past teachers, coaches, teammates, family, and friends who have provided indescribable motivation.”

Balancing the ball and the books has never seemed to be much of a problem for Jackson, who is carrying a 3.92 grade-point average as a business administration management major. He also starred on the field and in the classroom while playing at Nevada Union, leading the Miners to the 2005 section championship and posting a perfect 4.0 GPA.

The secret to his success? Actually, it's not much of a secret at all.

“It's pretty much just focus,” Jackson said in a phone interview. “Focus on a couple of things and that's it. You can't do too many things at once and do them well. So the things you do focus on, you can go all out on them. And right now, for me, that's football and school.”

His determination since day one helped him stand out early on. After redshirting as a freshman at FSU, he stepped into his spot at right guard in the second game when the starter was sidelined with an injury.

Jackson has been the Bulldogs' starting right guard ever since. In fact, until suffering a knee injury against Idaho, Jackson had started 33 consecutive games for Fresno State. Prior to the season, he underwent back surgery to alleviate pain from a herniated disc that plagued him late in the 2008 season.

He missed two games with the knee injury before returning to the field for Saturday's wild 53-52 win at Illinois. The Bulldogs won the game when offensive tackle Devan Cunningham, a former Grant standout with whom Jackson banged heads during his NU days, caught a pass that had been batted back toward the line of scrimmage and fell across the goal line for the game-winning score.

“That play was insane,” Jackson said. “The craziest thing I've ever seen.”

The win moved FSU to 8-4 and helped the Bulldogs earn another berth in the New Mexico Bowl, where they'll face Wyoming Dec. 19. Fresno State lost to Colorado State 40-35 in last year's New Mexico Bowl. This year's game will mark the third straight postseason bowl bid for Jackson and his teammates, who also beat Georgia Tech 40-28 in the 2007 Humanitarian Bowl.

Though Jackson didn't want to talk about next season — keeping his focus on the upcoming bowl game — he did say that he's excited about the team's prospects with all five offensive linemen returning in 2010, along with speedster Ryan Matthews in the backfield.

Matthews, a junior, ran for 17 touchdowns and 1,704 of the 2,779 rushing yards for which Jackson and his fellow linemen plowed a path.

“He makes us look good,” Jackson said of Matthews. “We make a mistake and he'll still make it happen.”

Before he made a return to the Bulldog lineup last Saturday, Jackson had made a brief return trip to Grass Valley. He was on hand for Nevada Union's 41-7, second-round win over Sheldon at Hooper Stadium.

Needless to say, it brought back some memories.

“Oh yeah, I think about those days,” said Jackson, who played in back-to-back section championship games for NU in 2004-05. “I especially do when I get together with all my old high school buddies and the old highlight film goes in.”

Catching the Miners (12-1) in action against Sheldon also had him drawing some comparisons between his championship team and the one looking to claim the program's fourth section crown on Saturday against Monterey Trail (11-2) at UOP in Stockton.

“It was the same kind of dominating performance,” Jackson said. “It seemed like they also had that instinct — once they got on top — to keep pounding and keep pounding away.

“I understand they had a closer game last week (31-28 win over Pleasant Grove), but from what I saw of the game and from looking at their schedule, they've been dominating all year.”

And, of course, whether he's doing it on the football field or in the classroom, if anyone knows something about dominating the task at hand, it's Andrew Jackson.

Brian Hamilton is sports editor at The Union. Contact him via e-mail at bhamilton@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4240.