When Duke running back Deon Jackson was starring for Atlanta's Pace Academy in the 2015 Class AA state championship game, his left tackle was new Giants No. 4 overall pick Andrew Thomas.
When Jackson became a Blue Devil, his college quarterback in 2017 and 2018 was last year's Giants No. 6 overall pick, Daniel Jones.
So Jackson has a unique perspective on a pairing the Giants hope will serve as a franchise foundation for the next decade. And he shared that perspective with Jones when the Giants' QB reached out to ask about Thomas on Friday.
"I think they'll be two people that really get along well together. I actually told Daniel this yesterday, because he called me and asked me how Andrew is," Jackson told the Daily News on a Zoom call Saturday morning. "I think they have matching personalities. They're pretty laid back, both of them. I feel like they'll connect on the field and off the field."
On the field, especially, Jackson said Thomas and Jones both are "extremely smart," and that will help keep Jones clean in the pocket and the Giants' offense moving the ball.
"They both pretty much know what's coming on the field before it even happens," Jackson said. "Daniel did it a lot in college. He always knew what was coming before the ball was snapped. He could always tell what was coming. He and I talked a lot on the field. My being in the backfield, he always let me know a lot of things since I was so young.
"And Andrew," Jackson continued, "he always knows what looks you're gonna throw at him, what blitz is coming. He always sees everything before it happens. That's why he rarely gets beat. So I feel like those two being in the huddle together, they are two smart individuals who are gonna read a lot of defenses and make a lot of plays together."
Jackson was in the small group of family and friends with Thomas on Thursday night when he got the call from Giants director of college scouting that he'd be the first offensive tackle taken.
And the Duke running back said while Thomas' top-five selection wasn't a surprise, it was definitely "surreal."
"It's crazy because even back in high school we were always talking about how Andrew was gonna be the first tackle taken whenever he declares for the draft," Jackson said. "Literally we've been talking about this for like six, seven years."
Just as meaningful, however, is where Thomas' draft party was held, 30 minutes south of downtown Atlanta in Fayetteville, at the house of a man Thomas refers to with reverence as "my mentor:" Brooklyn-born, Pace Academy offensive coordinator Kevin Johnson.
Thomas was raised in a Christian family by parents Belinda and Andre in Lithonia, 20 minutes east of Atlanta. He was talented and disciplined, an adept musician and drummer who now also plays the piano. And he played several sports, including baseball and basketball.
But Pace head coach Chris Slade _ a nine-year NFL linebacker (1993-2001) who played for both Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick on the Patriots _ saw a raw but rare talent with a future in football if Thomas committed to it. And so did Johnson.
"Andrew's mom and dad did a great job raising him, and then (as an athlete) I saw something in him that I'd seen from myself a long time ago but I didn't have the right people to mold me," Johnson told the News on the phone Friday. "And what I wanted to do is mold him from a different perspective. I wanted to motivate him to stay hungry _ to work hard all the time and be hungry all the time."
What Johnson quickly found out is Thomas wanted the NFL dream just as badly as he wanted it for him.
