OUA football award-winner Jackson Mackay transfers to Arkansas Razorbacks

Photo: Brandon VandeCaveye/Western Athletics

Jackson Mackay, one of the top young football players in Ontario University Athletics, has transferred to the University of Arkansas.

The 19-year-old dual-sport athlete is moving to the Southeastern Conference to compete in track with the Razorbacks, after starring for Western University in the decathlon and heptathlon.

Mackay played defensive back for the Mustangs in 2025, recording 37.5 total tackles and one interception. He started at free safety, taking over from Jackson Findlay, who was a second-round pick in the 2025 CFL Draft by the B.C. Lions. The London, Ont. native won the Norm Marshall Award as OUA Rookie of the Year last season.

“Jackson is such a great athlete who was able to transition to the demands of our free safety responsibility as a freshman, checking all our audibles and directing the secondary and the veterans around him,” said defensive coordinator Paul Gleason at the time.

“He did a remarkable job as a rookie, taking on these demands. His football IQ developed immensely as the season progressed.”

The six-foot-two, 200-pound athlete broke a 28-year-old Canadian U20 record in the decathlon and won the Athletics Canada Lyle Sanderson Award in 2026. He also recently won the U Sports heptathlon national championship, setting an all-time record in the process.

“Right now, I am putting football on hold to make a healthy run at reaching an elite level in track and field,” Mackay told 3DownNation. “Stepping down from football and remaining at Western would have been too difficult for me. Perhaps I will find my way back to football one day in the future.”

Mackay was an all-star quarterback at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School while developing as a high-end track and field athlete prior to moving on to the collegiate level.