Former OU standout leads Texas College to most wins since 1958
Former Oklahoma Sooners standout Jarrail Jackson has turned Texas College Steers into a winner in part due to a conversation with his mentor, Mike Leach.
“Just get your wins” has become the rallying cry of the Texas College football program under head coach Jarrail Jackson.
One year ago, Texas College gained the attention of the college football universe when they were defeated 96-0 by UTPB to open the 2023 campaign. Multiple factors played a role in the margin of victory, but one main factor was that 25 players were removed from the Steers bus moments before they departed Tyler for the contest.
That marked the second year in which Jackson had players removed from the bus after 10 players faced the same scenario before the Steers played Arkansas Baptist at the start of the 2022 season. The reason cited for removing the players each year was a delay in getting the athletes certified for competition by the NAIA.
But this is the 2024 season, and it’s not your typical Steers program anymore. Texas College has posted five official wins (their win against Westgate Christian does not count for NAIA purposes), which is the most for the program since 1958. Those five victories equal the number of Steers wins from 2016 through 2023.
To understand how Jackson turned the program around in only his third season at Texas College, one must know how he arrived in Tyler. The path is filled with unexpected turns and legendary college football coaches.
Jackson caught 54 passes for 659 yards and seven touchdowns, a school record at the time. That production led to him earning third-team All-Big 12 honors and a spot on the Buffalo Bills roster. One of the highlights of Jackson’s career leading into his senior season was returning a punt 51 yards for a touchdown with under seven minutes remaining in regulation to ignite a comeback win over Texas in 1996.
He spent three years with the Bills, mainly on the practice squad, before embarking on a journey through multiple Arena Football League teams, including three stints each with the Tulsa Talons and Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz throughout his nine-year professional career.
Toward the end of his playing career, Jackson began coaching football during the offseason. He started as a wide receivers coach at Chickasha High School and was a volunteer assistant at Central Oklahoma.
However, in the next six years, he began preparing to become a head coach one day. His development began at Dartmouth under the legendary Buddy Teevens. Jackson spent six years with the Big Green and credits Teevens for teaching him the organizational skills that were valuable to Jackson throughout his career.
Mike Leach called Jackson in 2012 and offered him an administrative position at Washington State. Jackson spent the next three years as Director of Player Relations, involved in nearly every aspect of the program. Current North Texas head coach Eric Morris was on the Cougars' staff with Jackson as inside receivers coach.
On top of his administrative duties, Leach also told Jackson to learn how a defensive secondary operates from Washington State’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, Mike Breske.
“One of the best things Coach (Leach) did for me was put me with the secondary coach. It opened my eyes to what hurts a defense and how to call games on offense to exploit those weaknesses.”
However, Jackson became upset when he was not promoted to outside receivers coach after Dennis Simmons departed, so he left the Cougars to coach the wide receivers at Davidson. In hindsight, Jackson realizes leaving the Cougars wasn’t his best decision, and things never worked out for him at Davidson.
Jackson’s career took a twist after one season at Davidson. By the end of January 2016, he was teaching his daughter’s preschool class when the teacher went on maternity leave until school ended in May. He jumped back into football and spent the 2016 season in another off-field role as an offensive and recruiting assistant at Mississippi State.
Missing being on the gridiron as a position coach, Jackson departed the Bulldogs for NCAA Division II Central Oklahoma, where he served as wide receivers coach under his friend Nick Bobeck. The Bronchos wide receivers excelled under Jackson’s tutelage, highlighted by one of his proteges, J.T. Luper, finishing second in the voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy, the DII equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
As Jackson was preparing to enter the first meeting for spring camp at UCO in 2019, his life took another unexpected turn when Bob Stoops called.
“Well, Coach (Stoops) called, so I rearranged meetings and went to Norman,” Jackson said.
Once he arrived in Norman, he met another legendary offensive football mind, Hal Mumme. Stoops had recently been named head coach of the XFL Arlington Renegades and hired Mumme as offensive coordinator. The offer to become a wide receivers coach under those football legends was too much for Jackson to pass up.
However, everything changed when the pandemic hit, leaving the XFL a defunct league and Jackson without a job. So, Jackson started working at a Boys and Girls Club, where he found himself coaching the nephew of his former quarterback at Oklahoma, Josh Heupel, in 7-on-7.
Jackson quickly returned to football and spent the 2021 season at Tyler as offensive coordinator until Texas College suddenly had a head coach opening when former Dallas Cowboys legend Greg Ellis left the Steers to accept the same role at the university now known as Nelson, formerly SAGU.
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