Photo by: Mary Grace Grabill/Northwestern Athletics
Veteran Center Jackson Carsello Anchors Northwestern’s Line
9/23/2025 9:16:00 PM | Football
When Jackson Carsello lined up at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium on Sept. 13, the graduate student center knew one of his toughest tests in 2025 was imminent.
As he faced off with then-No. 4 Oregon — a team boasting one of the nation's most formidable defensive lines — Carsello turned in a career performance. A player accustomed to doing the dirty work beyond the limelight, Carsello was named Week 3 Pro Football & Sports Network Center of The Week and received a spot on PFF's Big Ten Team of The Week.
For Carsello, the individual accolades reflected the Wildcat offensive line's collective strength.
"I believe we have the ability to be the best offensive line in the country," Carsello said. "We're continuing to progress to that point, and our confidence continues to grow."
Last season, Carsello and Jack Bailey battled for the starting center role in fall camp. While Bailey earned the Week 1 start, Carsello didn't relent. He prepared each week as if he were the starter.
Four games into the 2024 campaign, Bailey's season-ending injury threw Carsello into action. The offensive line suffered its lumps throughout the year, with the room embodying a "next-man-up" mentality on a weekly basis.
"It's the few and the proud in that room," Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach David Braun said at a November press conference. "I'm really proud of the way Jackson Carsello has continued to battle."
As he started the final eight games of the season, Carsello learned several valuable lessons that fueled his offseason preparation.
"The guy who is going to work harder is going to win at the end of the day," Carsello said. "Especially in the Big Ten, you've got a lot of hard working guys, crazy schemes on defense, you have to really dive into the playbook, dive into scouting your opponent."
Ahead of Carsello's fifth season in Evanston, Northwestern brought in four transfer lineman, and competition — with the exception of Carsello's roommate Caleb Tiernan at left tackle — ensued at every offensive line slot.
Once deemed an undermanned crew, the offensive line swiftly shifted into a position of significant depth.
"It's just the experience level, and the numbers and competition in that room is what's made us better," offensive line coach Bill O'Boyle said. "We didn't have that last year. That competition level has gone way up."
Ten days before the Wildcats' season opener at Tulane, Braun announced that Carsello and Tiernan would serve as the "two staples" in the offensive line room. For the 6-foot-4, 300-pound center, earning a Day One starting role served as a testament to trusting his process.
"It's been a dream come true," Carsello said. "I grew up coming to Northwestern football games. My family is at every single one of my games. Just having that support system there, with my family and friends in my community backing me is unbelievable."
It's a journey that began long before the Northbrook, Ill., native actualized his dream of playing Big Ten Football less than a half hour down the road from his hometown.
With his parents' established athletic pedigree — Timm Carsello playing offensive line for Western Michigan and Coe College and Kristen Carsello competing in both basketball and soccer at Lindenwood — Carsello didn't need to look far for role models as he found his passion in sports.
Carsello's father was his first offensive line coach and helped his son develop fundamentals that immediately intrigued Glenbrook North football coach Matt Purdy, a former offensive lineman at Iowa. The center joked that he can still hear his dad critiquing his technique in games.
"He was one of those kids who was a total student athlete," Purdy said. "He was so highly respected by the teachers. From coaching him, he watched film to the point where he was more critical of himself than I was. It just showed me the depth in which he took his personal improvement. He was hungry to learn, grow and it just never stopped."
While he possessed a significant family background with football and high level athletics, Carsello discovered a dual passion for history as a young child. He can't quite pinpoint what sparked his love for history, but there's one moment the center's family often quips about.
His mother bought him a model of The Titanic, which Carsello said he tirelessly worked to assemble.
"I've always been kind of a history nerd," Carsello said. "I love to read books of all sorts, especially U.S. history. It's important to learn about your history so you make sure it doesn't repeat itself sometimes. Something I love about history is that you can learn something new about it every single day."
Carsello said he and graduate student tight end Lawson Albright are always keen to discuss World War II history. He added that Mac Uihlein, a veteran leader at Mike linebacker, is another history buff in the Northwestern locker room.
The graduate student center is currently reading about the lead-up to the American Civil War, though many-a locker room conversations tend to diverge into stock market discussions.
"We go on the practice field, we're trying to butt heads, we're kind of enemies, but you step into that locker room, and we're brothers," Carsello said. "It's always interesting to grow these relationships through any means — through going out to dinner with a group of guys, just sitting in the locker room talking about history or sitting at the lunch table upstairs."
Now through one-fourth of his final regular season as a Wildcat, Carsello said he tries not to think about the finality of his college football journey. It's a career that's seen Carsello put on 35 pounds and develop into a Big Ten starter, facing some of the nation's premier pass rushers.
He said it's surreal to look back at pictures of himself and his fellow classmates who entered the program in 2021 and realize just how far they've come.
"Those are guys I'm going to talk to for the rest of my life," Carsello said. "These are relationships that are never going to go away. We've been through hell and back together, and that's what football is at times."
As he faced off with then-No. 4 Oregon — a team boasting one of the nation's most formidable defensive lines — Carsello turned in a career performance. A player accustomed to doing the dirty work beyond the limelight, Carsello was named Week 3 Pro Football & Sports Network Center of The Week and received a spot on PFF's Big Ten Team of The Week.
For Carsello, the individual accolades reflected the Wildcat offensive line's collective strength.
"I believe we have the ability to be the best offensive line in the country," Carsello said. "We're continuing to progress to that point, and our confidence continues to grow."
Last season, Carsello and Jack Bailey battled for the starting center role in fall camp. While Bailey earned the Week 1 start, Carsello didn't relent. He prepared each week as if he were the starter.
Four games into the 2024 campaign, Bailey's season-ending injury threw Carsello into action. The offensive line suffered its lumps throughout the year, with the room embodying a "next-man-up" mentality on a weekly basis.
"It's the few and the proud in that room," Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach David Braun said at a November press conference. "I'm really proud of the way Jackson Carsello has continued to battle."
As he started the final eight games of the season, Carsello learned several valuable lessons that fueled his offseason preparation.
"The guy who is going to work harder is going to win at the end of the day," Carsello said. "Especially in the Big Ten, you've got a lot of hard working guys, crazy schemes on defense, you have to really dive into the playbook, dive into scouting your opponent."
Ahead of Carsello's fifth season in Evanston, Northwestern brought in four transfer lineman, and competition — with the exception of Carsello's roommate Caleb Tiernan at left tackle — ensued at every offensive line slot.
Once deemed an undermanned crew, the offensive line swiftly shifted into a position of significant depth.
"It's just the experience level, and the numbers and competition in that room is what's made us better," offensive line coach Bill O'Boyle said. "We didn't have that last year. That competition level has gone way up."
Ten days before the Wildcats' season opener at Tulane, Braun announced that Carsello and Tiernan would serve as the "two staples" in the offensive line room. For the 6-foot-4, 300-pound center, earning a Day One starting role served as a testament to trusting his process.
"It's been a dream come true," Carsello said. "I grew up coming to Northwestern football games. My family is at every single one of my games. Just having that support system there, with my family and friends in my community backing me is unbelievable."
It's a journey that began long before the Northbrook, Ill., native actualized his dream of playing Big Ten Football less than a half hour down the road from his hometown.
With his parents' established athletic pedigree — Timm Carsello playing offensive line for Western Michigan and Coe College and Kristen Carsello competing in both basketball and soccer at Lindenwood — Carsello didn't need to look far for role models as he found his passion in sports.
Carsello's father was his first offensive line coach and helped his son develop fundamentals that immediately intrigued Glenbrook North football coach Matt Purdy, a former offensive lineman at Iowa. The center joked that he can still hear his dad critiquing his technique in games.
"He was one of those kids who was a total student athlete," Purdy said. "He was so highly respected by the teachers. From coaching him, he watched film to the point where he was more critical of himself than I was. It just showed me the depth in which he took his personal improvement. He was hungry to learn, grow and it just never stopped."
While he possessed a significant family background with football and high level athletics, Carsello discovered a dual passion for history as a young child. He can't quite pinpoint what sparked his love for history, but there's one moment the center's family often quips about.
His mother bought him a model of The Titanic, which Carsello said he tirelessly worked to assemble.
"I've always been kind of a history nerd," Carsello said. "I love to read books of all sorts, especially U.S. history. It's important to learn about your history so you make sure it doesn't repeat itself sometimes. Something I love about history is that you can learn something new about it every single day."
Carsello said he and graduate student tight end Lawson Albright are always keen to discuss World War II history. He added that Mac Uihlein, a veteran leader at Mike linebacker, is another history buff in the Northwestern locker room.
The graduate student center is currently reading about the lead-up to the American Civil War, though many-a locker room conversations tend to diverge into stock market discussions.
"We go on the practice field, we're trying to butt heads, we're kind of enemies, but you step into that locker room, and we're brothers," Carsello said. "It's always interesting to grow these relationships through any means — through going out to dinner with a group of guys, just sitting in the locker room talking about history or sitting at the lunch table upstairs."
Now through one-fourth of his final regular season as a Wildcat, Carsello said he tries not to think about the finality of his college football journey. It's a career that's seen Carsello put on 35 pounds and develop into a Big Ten starter, facing some of the nation's premier pass rushers.
He said it's surreal to look back at pictures of himself and his fellow classmates who entered the program in 2021 and realize just how far they've come.
"Those are guys I'm going to talk to for the rest of my life," Carsello said. "These are relationships that are never going to go away. We've been through hell and back together, and that's what football is at times."
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