Senior Ty Jackson and junior Joe Hall were invited to participate in the Kansas City Showcase earlier this summer, as both want to play in college, and saw this as a way to get noticed at and start the recruiting process.

“It felt good,” Jackson said. “It just showed me that I could play with the high road competition, and when season time did come, I was a little more confident because I’ve seen players that were better, faster, stronger…  Knowing I had a teammate [Hall] there with me going along in the process it made me feel good.”

Jackson is a starting safety for the Indians and has been since last year. His motivation to work hard is his opportunity to play at a high level in college.

“It makes me want to train that much harder, that much more often, and just do that much better every time I take the field,” Jackson said.

Many college recruiters were there, including Kansas State University, which has already offered a spot on the team to Hall. But he says it doesn’t end when someone offers you, even if they’re the very best.

“It’s definitely a dream come true,” Hall said. “That’s what I’ve been working for my whole life. It’s far from being complete, far from being done. I still have a lot of work to do. Even if I had Alabama, all these big time schools from all over the country, I’d still be working the same way so it’s a lot of work that needs to be done right now.”

Hall, who has been a wide receiver for the Indians since last year, is out for more. He’s translating all of his work from the showcase and the offseason, to the field for the Indians this year.

“It’s awesome to know we have multiple guys with talent,” Hall said. “We’re just trying to get better every day and take it as a chance to move forward. It was tough last Friday with the [Junction City] loss, but I think we took a big step and we’re ready for next week at Hayden.”