Domani Jackson is waiting for a call on the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft after a two-year run at Alabama that ended with one of the Tide’s biggest defensive plays of the season. The former cornerback is among the Crimson Tide players hoping to hear his name selected after three Alabama players came off the board in the first three rounds.
Alabama’s draft haul already includes Kadyn Proctor to the Dolphins in the first round, Ty Simpson to the Rams in the first round and Germie Bernard, the Tide’s only Day 2 pick, to the Steelers at No. 47 overall. Jackson is the remaining Alabama name drawing attention as the draft moves into its final day, with teams still sorting through defensive backs after three former Tide players were taken early.
Jackson arrived in Tuscaloosa with a long track record. A native of Santa Ana, California, he starred at Mater Dei, a program that has produced six NFL players, including Bryce Young and Amon-Ra St. Brown. In the class of 2022, he was regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in the country, then started his college career at USC, where he played in 18 games over two seasons before entering the transfer portal and moving to Alabama.
He committed to Alabama in December while Nick Saban was still head coach, then stayed with the program after Saban announced his retirement on Jan. 10, 2024 and Kalen DeBoer took over. That decision mattered because Jackson became a fixture in Alabama’s secondary, starting alongside freshman Zabien Brown in 2024 and opening all 13 games that season before starting 10 of Alabama’s 15 games in 2025. Dijon Lee also emerged as another freshman cornerback in 2025, giving the Tide a young and crowded defensive backfield.
Jackson’s defining Alabama moment came on Oct. 12, 2024, when he intercepted a LaNorris Sellers third-down pass in a 27-25 win over South Carolina. The pick sealed the victory in the final minute, and teammates had to direct him after he tried to return it instead of taking a knee in the end zone. On social media, the moment was framed simply as a win and an interception, and it became one of the top plays of Jackson’s Alabama tenure.
Mater Dei’s pipeline underscores why Jackson’s path has drawn so much attention. Alabama’s current roster includes three players from the same school, a sign of how often the program has been able to tap one of the nation’s most productive high school factories. Jackson now becomes the next test of that pipeline, with NFL teams deciding whether his Alabama film is enough to make him a draft pick on the last day.
If his name is called, it will close a college career that began at USC, crossed the country to Alabama and included a signature interception that helped win a game in 2024. If not, Jackson will leave the draft without the ending he sought, even after proving he could deliver in one of the SEC’s biggest moments.
