Jackson Tate, a Montgomery, Alabama native and former student-athlete at Lawson State earned the recognition of First Team All-Southern District honors following his sophomore year at Lawson but it wasn't just about baseball.

"Junior college is one of the best things you can do to get ready for the Division I, II, or III level. [As far as] Academics, everyone thinks JUCO is easy, but at Lawson I had to study my tail off. It wasn't like high school it was difficult at times especially balancing school and sports," said Jackson.

He says when visiting Lawson's campus he could not refuse the opportunity to attend and play.

 "I got a call from Coach Lewis midway through my senior season of baseball and [I] went on a recruiting visit in March or April 2017 and I loved the facility, Lawson has great facilities and classrooms, the gym, the workout facility is amazing and the locker rooms are really nice," said Jackson. "Coach Lewis straight up told me if you do what you need to do here, there's no problem getting you to a bigger university so it was hard to turn all that down."

Jackson said it all boiled down to the teamwork at Lawson State which set the tone and foundation that led him to play for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.

"I know a lot of kids who go to junior colleges want to go to the next level. To be a good team is the most important thing," said Jackson. "If you're all about yourself you wont be able to play as many games as a team that's well put together or make as many memories or get more exposure. Coach Lewis used to say if we make it to the tournament there will be alot of scouts there to watch."

"Baseball is an individual sport but you need a bunch of individuals to play as a team, so it's a lot to do with teamwork," he said.

Jackson was actually recruited to play football by multiple schools but elected to go to college for baseball instead. 

"Originally growing up and through high school I planned on playing football. Baseball was never my priority. I always played with my brothers, but baseball was never a focus I never played summer ball like most people growing up. So, when that [football] didn't work out, come senior year was the first time I really focused on baseball and played it. So I was behind a lot of kids," said Jackson. "So junior college was a necessity for me growing up and getting my game together and getting better at what I needed to get better at."

He says a lot of JUCO's and other colleges actually look for multi-talented individuals.

"You hear it all the time of kids playing one or more sports I would just say to kids who grow up who only stick to baseball or football or they just stick to one sport, college coaches look for kids who play multiple sports, that's the one thing they look for."

Jackson said there were plenty of opportunities to bond with his teammates and there were even some workouts that he remembers to this day from Lawson.

"We have a pool at Lawson as we would do pool workouts and we'd have to tread water with no hands and see who could go the longest," said Jackson. "So great team bonding exercises we did there. And it's definitely better than running, swimming is not as hard as running and you don't get as hot but it's definitely a challenge forsure."

One thing he was able to accomplish during his two season at Lawson was: "My sophomore year we came in third in the tournament and it may be the highest that Lawson has ever come in the tournament but we wanted to set that precedent to be able to go to Lawson State and be associated with winning and be associated with a good program so I know a lot of my buddies just wanted to turn Lawson around." 

He has one thing to say to his former coaches at Lawson State and the countless coaches and teachers he had growing up.

"I would tell them thank you. For bringing out the best in me. I wouldn't be here without Jesus first, he's the reason I'm here today. My parents and then my coaches and my teachers in high school. Alot of them spent more time with me than my parents did just because of the situations where the coaches are with the student athletes all throughout the day or practice," said Jaclkson.

"I just would tell them thank you for always believing in me and putting me in situations and the places to succeed."