Jackson Draper joined the Bellarmine lacrosse program as an assistant coach in the summer of 2022. Coach Draper oversees the Knights offense and faceoff unit.
Draper helped the 2025 faceoff unit post a .499 win percentage, the fifth-best mark in program history. Cole Messick won a career-high 107 of 191 faceoffs. His .560 faceoff win percentage was also a career high, second-best in the ASUN among specialists who took at least 100 faceoffs and the third-best mark in Knights history. The senior ranked second on BU with 39 ground balls behind another senior, Aidan Fearn. Fearn, who after the season was named to the Academic All-ASUN Team, picked up a career-high 40 ground balls to lead the team and went 90 for 182 on faceoffs (.495). On Feb. 8 against Mercyhurst, Fearn won 22 of 26 faceoffs (.846) and set a BU single-game program record with 15 ground balls. In that contest against Mercyhurst, the Knights also set a program record with 27 faceoff wins. Both Knights’ top faceoff specialists earned nods to the USILA Division I Team of the Week once during the season. For their careers, Messick finished with a .507 faceoff win percentage while Fearn finished at .498, third and fifth in program history, respectively.
The Knights posted a .491 faceoff win percentage under Draper’s guidance in 2024, good for fourth in the ASUN and the fifth-best mark in program history. The unit was led by junior Aidan Fearn, who won 91 of his 166 faceoffs for a .548 percentage, the fourth-best season percentage in Knights history and an improvement of 19 percentage points from his sophomore campaign. Junior Cole Messick also showed a marked improvement from his sophomore year, improving his percentage from .471 to .523 (45-for-86), an increase of 52 percentage points. Sophomore Grant Guthrie posted a .431 percentage and finished second on the team with 40 ground balls.
In 2023, Draper helped the Knights faceoff unit to the seventh-best statistical season in program history with a .483 faceoff win percentage, an 8-percent improvement from 2022. The 2023 team would break the program record for ground balls in a season with 506. Faceoff specialist Grant Guthrie was named a member of the ASUN All-Freshman Team and broke the program record for ground balls in a season with 75. Defenseman and faceoff wing specialist Jake Berggren would also earn Second Team All-ASUN honors as well as a spot on the ASUN All-Academic Team. He finished the year with 62 ground balls, the sixth-highest total in Knights history, and a team-leading 23 caused turnovers.
2023 was a historic season for the Knights. The team broke 33 different program records, including the record for NCAA Division I wins in a season (11). The Knights achieved the program’s first consecutive postseason appearances as well as their first ever postseason win with a 14-13 triumph over Mercer in the ASUN Quarterfinals. The 2023 Knights would finish ranked in the top 20 of Division I in several statistical categories, including man-down defense (7th), clearing percentage (11th), scoring margin (15th) and winning percentage (20th). The 2023 team also produced the program's fourth-ever All-American in Kyle Playsted and two USILA Scholar All-Americans in Jake Berggren and Benny O'Rourk.
Draper came to Bellarmine in 2022 after serving as the offensive coordinator at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, for the 2021-2022 season. There he helped the Rams tie the program record for wins in a season. He also coached the Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) Offensive Player of the Year as well as nine other MLC All-Conference selections. The offense also broke program records for goals, assists and points in a season across the 2021-2022 campaign.
Prior to Cornell College, Draper spent a season as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator for the Steamboat Springs (Colo.) High School boys’ lacrosse program. He helped multiple players reach the NCAA level during his season in Steamboat.
Draper played collegiately at Whittier College at both attack and midfield. During his freshman season he helped the team to a Locker-Stabler Cup victory over rival Colorado College for the first time in nearly a decade. As a junior, Draper was a part of a 13-3 Poets team, marking the program’s winningest season in school history. At the end of his career, Draper ranked in the top 25 for both career goals and assists at Whittier College.
Alma Mater: Whittier College ‘20
