Deion Sanders set the blueprint for former NFL stars getting into the teaching ranks, and DeSean Jackson is among the newest to observe in his footsteps. The three-time Professional Bowl large receiver accepted in December a suggestion at Delaware State, an HBCU, to change into a first-time head coach. And he did so one week after Norfolk State employed Michael Vick in an primarily similar scenario.
Jackson’s entrance into the teaching realm could not have been attainable if not for the success Sanders discovered throughout a quick stint at Jackson State, the place he revitalized a program and turned it into among the finest on the FCS stage briefly order. It was there that Sanders landed No. 1 total recruit Travis Hunter and developed his son, Shedeur Sanders, right into a prolific passer earlier than all of them moved on to Colorado.
“Coach Prime, man, I can not stress sufficient about how he is opened doorways up for guys like myself,” Jackson mentioned on “All Details No Brakes.” “We talked about Michael Vick being at Norfolk. We play this 12 months. Simply having the ability to be taught from guys like him that is been at an HBCU when he was at Jackson State, now he is at Colorado, it is a stepping stone for me.”
Simply over two years faraway from his last NFL sport, Jackson had no prior faculty soccer teaching expertise when he took the Delaware State job. He did, nonetheless, spend the 2024 season as a highschool offensive coordinator at Lengthy Seaside (Calif.) Woodrow Wilson.
The duty Jackson inherited at Delaware State is just like the one Sanders confronted at Jackson State. In actual fact, the Hornets are within the midst of an excellent longer drought. Their final successful season got here again in 2012, they usually received precisely one sport in every of the final two years beneath former coach Lee Hull. Delaware State final made the FCS playoffs in 2007.
Former Eagles teammates Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson can be opposing coaches in HBCU sport in Philadelphia
Shanna McCarriston
“I needed to return right here. They solely received two video games previously two years. So I am coming right into a scenario the place I can not do no worse,” Jackson mentioned. “I am gonna wager on myself. Ain’t no shoe too huge for me to fill. I really feel like the inspiration is ready. It is simply on me to place sure [things] round.”
Jackson was a standout participant at California from 2005 to 2007 and earned All-American honors with the Golden Bears in his sophomore and junior seasons. The super faculty success made Jackson a second-round NFL Draft goal, and he strung collectively a superb profession over the following decade and a half with a Tremendous Bowl title, three Professional Bowl appearances and league data for profession touchdowns of 60-plus yards (26) and 80-plus yards (5).
