With help of unique support system, Jared Jackson gets his NFL shot
When he boards a cross-country flight from Florida to California this morning, Jared Jackson will have no way of knowing whether this is the culmination of his athletic career or another new beginning.
Either way, he’s not complaining.
Jackson, the former walk-on wide receiver and special-teams ace at Florida State, will be part of a small group of NFL rookies competing over the next couple of days for limited roster spots with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams are flying Jackson out west today, and they’ve booked him a return flight for Saturday. What happens in between those trips will likely determine whether he continues chasing his dream of playing professional football or he begins working toward a career in commercial real estate.
“This is all I wanted,” Jackson told Warchant earlier this week. “I knew I wouldn’t be a draft guy, so this is what I’ve been shooting for. I just wanted a shot. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. I just wanted to see what I could do on the field with those guys. If it doesn’t work out, I can live with myself, knowing that I gave it everything I had.”
Even before he started working toward an NFL tryout, Jackson’s story already was pretty remarkable.
Having grown up in nearby Monticello, Fla., Jackson was a high school football star at tiny Aucilla Christian Academy but was not seriously recruited by college programs of any size. He came to FSU as a walk-on wide receiver before playing himself into a starring role on special teams.
By the time Jackson was a senior, he was a team captain.
What has transpired since the end of his senior season, however, has been no less fascinating.
In preparing for the possibility of an NFL tryout, Jackson has taken many of the same steps followed by numerous FSU players before him.
He started working out with personal trainers at Titus Sports Academy in Tallahassee once the 2017 season ended. He also began focusing seriously on his nutrition. And he enlisted the assistance of former FSU great Kez McCorvey to help him refine his route-running.
But that’s not all.
Jackson also leaned on a support group that would likely raise the eyebrows of many members of Florida State’s fan base, but also fans of the rival Florida Gators.
“It’s more than helping a ‘Nole,” said former University of Florida star receiver Chris Doering, who has served as a mentor to Jackson for more than a year. “It’s helping a guy who was a walk-on, like I was. I see a lot of myself in him, and I can relate to him. I know all the things he’s gone through, because I went through a lot of those things.”
Doering, who was a walk-on at UF before earning a scholarship and becoming a record-setting receiver, was introduced to Jackson by a mutual friend midway through the 2016 season.
Initially, their conversations were more motivational in nature.
When Jackson would express frustration about not getting many opportunities in games, Doering would counsel him on channeling those emotions into better effort at practice. When Jackson would get discouraged about scholarship players getting preferential treatment, Doering would remind him that he would only hurt himself by letting those feelings get the best of him.
After a while, the former Gator star receiver would take a more hands-on role with the young Seminole wideout.
During the summer before Jackson’s senior year at FSU, Doering invited him down to Gainesville for an informal workout. With Gainesville High quarterback Luke Matthews -- the son of former UF star QB Shane Matthews -- throwing passes, Jackson and Doering ran routes together.
Doering, who played seven seasons in the NFL, gave Jackson pointers on getting better releases against press-man coverage, as well as on using his size to his advantage.
“I knew I was going to play more during my senior year and that I would need help with beating press coverage,” said Jackson, who measured in at 6 feet, 2.5 inches and 199 pounds during FSU’s Pro Day last month. “One thing he did that really helped me is he showed me a video of him and Ed McCaffrey from when they were playing in Denver. It was like a 12-minute video of them running routes.
“We sat at his house, and Chris went over every route, dissecting them for me. Then he sent me the video so I could watch it at home. One of the really cool things was they would run the same routes different ways -- one time they’d use an inside release and the next time an outside release on the same route -- so that the DBs couldn’t read what they were doing.”
Jackson and Doering talked often throughout the 2017 season, and that continued as Jackson prepared to work out for scouts at the Seminoles’ Pro Day event. Then last weekend, with just a few days remaining before he would leave for Los Angeles, Jackson went back to Gainesville to get a “refresher” course.
This time, Doering brought a special guest with him to throw passes -- 1996 Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel.
“That was fantastic,” Jackson said. “They’ve all been great to work with. Nobody’s been like, ‘You’re from Florida State.’ They’re all just wanting to help.”
While he had been working with Kez McCorvey in Tallahassee on being more being more explosive during his routes and using better footwork, Jackson said Doering again focused on getting good releases at the start of his routes and also on attacking different coverages.
“What I like about him is he’s very driven, very motivated,” Doering said of Jackson. “He’s extremely hard to discourage. That’s maybe the thing that I identify with him the most. And that’s what it takes. He didn’t get a chance to play as much as he would have liked in college -- or even as much as he might have deserved -- but I love that he never let that stop him from working to get better.
“Aside from special teams, he didn’t get a ton of playing time until his senior year. Most people don’t have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out that long.”
Although Doering didn’t post eye-popping numbers in the NFL like he did in college -- he and former Alabama star Amari Cooper still share the record for most career touchdown receptions (31) in SEC history -- the former Gator standout knows it was his attention to detail that allowed him to suit up for seven different NFL teams.
And he said it’s no coincidence that his best two seasons, in 2002 with Washington (18 receptions, 192 yards) and 2003 with Pittsburgh (18 receptions, 240 yards), both came after his two years of learning from McCaffrey with the Broncos.
“The NFL’s a much more physical league,” said Doering, who was listed at 6-4, 201 during his pro career. “You have to be able to handle contact, and you also have to be willing to initiate contact. When I was a younger receiver, I was always trying to work my way around contact at the line. But when I got to Denver and watched McCaffrey, I saw that he was actually initiating contact. Most corners are smaller than me or someone like Jared, so why wouldn’t you use that to your advantage?”
That’s one of the things Jackson hopes will help him during the Rams tryout.
His testing numbers were solid at Pro Day -- he posted a 37.5-inch vertical, a 10-6 broad jump, and he ran the 40 in about 4.55 seconds -- but he knows he won’t get an invite to the Rams’ full team minicamp based on his athleticism.
The factors working in Jackson’s favor, according to Doering, are his ability to play all five wide receiver positions and his impressive track record on special teams.
Doering said NFL teams love versatility because of their limited roster size, and he added that it’s very difficult to find a receiver with the necessary combination of size, speed and intelligence to handle every spot in the offense.
He believes Jackson has those tools.
“He’s an intelligent kid, which means he can learn quickly, and you can plug him in a lot of places,” Doering said. “And on top of that, he has the ability to play special teams, which is something I didn’t really have. He can cover kicks, return kicks … if you’re willing to do all those things to make a roster, you definitely give yourself a better opportunity.
“They (the Rams) saw his 40 time, his vertical and his broad jump. They see his size. The NFL is all about potential, and he’s definitely going to get his chance now.”
Jackson said his agent was contacted by a few NFL teams over the last month or so, but the Rams were the ones who showed the most interest. He doesn’t know how many undrafted rookies will make it from this tryout to the team camp, but it likely won’t be more than a couple.
“First of all, you’ve got to have a lot of luck,” Doering said, when asked about the keys to sticking with a team. “It’s so competitive. The line between guys who get cut in camp and the guys who become Pro Bowlers is so fine. So, you need somebody to like you, and you also need a lot of perseverance. Because plenty of people will tell you you’re not good enough.”
Jackson has no idea what the future will hold, but there’s pride in just receiving the invitation. Simply getting the opportunity.
In college, he went from unrecruited walk-on to special-teams captain.
He’d love to make that magic happen again.
“I feel like I’ve definitely come a long way,” Jackson said. “Physically, from working out at Titus. Then the things I’ve learned about being a receiver from Kez and Chris. And even some blocking concepts they’ve shown me.
“One thing Chris says is don’t ever give anyone a reason not to play you. Run full speed after every catch in practice. Be a great blocker. Use great technique all the time. Don’t give them a reason to doubt you. So that’s what I’ll need to do out there.”
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