30 Greatest Tigers of the Decade: #23 Susan Jackson

Susan Jackson actually has one more season to build her legacy at LSU.  So make this your inspiration to go check out the gymnastics team this spring: one of the greatest Tigers of all time will be taking her final bow.  But let's not speculate on what she might do in her last year, let us celebrate what she has already accomplished.

Jackson is a 7-time All-American.  Don't worry, she's not breaking the rules of eligibility, gymnastics has All-Americans in each event.  In 2008, her sophomore year, she hauled in those honors as she earned four first team All-Americans (balance beam, vault, floor exercise, and all around).  She also won the SEC and NCAA vault titles.  She would have repeated as the NCAA vault champ in her junior year, but fellow Tiger Ashleigh Clare-Kearney won the title instead.  Jackson had to settle for second.  However, the biggest vault came in the preliminaries, where Jackson scored a remarkable 9.95 to help LSU make their comeback from dead last to qualifying for the Super Six.*  It's not just getting the big scores, it's getting the big scores when it matters most.    

*Look at Poseur, dropping the gymnastics knowledge and now referring to himself in the third person

She ranked fourth in the nation as a junior in the all around with some pretty impressive averages on the individual disciplines: 9.895 vault, 9.853 beam, and 9.797 floor.  Remember, these are her averages.  She's won 29 titles on her career, and in five different disciplines (7 vault, 7 beam, 5 bars, 5 floor, 5 all around... that's balance).  She's incredible at the vault, but she's well-rounded enough to win at any event, or the overall. 

But don't take my word for it, check out the video:

 I don't know a lot about gymnastics, but that looked pretty darn good.