Terry Jackson: It's Not All About Football
Saturday, August 30, 2008 | Football
By: Dan Apple, UF Communications
Last March, head coach Urban Meyer brought former Gator Terry Jackson back to the Florida football program. With all of his success on the field during his playing days, surely Jackson could help the team after a disappointing 9-4 finish in 2007. However, that's not why Jackson was brought back to his alma mater.
As the first-ever Director of Player and Community Relations, Jackson is charged with much more than just results on the football field. The position that he holds was created to change the lives of the football players by using them to impact the surrounding community that we live in.
“Terry is a tremendous mentor, leader and role model for our players,” said Coach Meyer. “He has excelled at every endeavor – from serving as Student Body Vice-President and playing on the 1996 National Championship team to his career in the NFL.”
Jackson feels that his greatest responsibility is to be a mentor and role model to the players by sharing his experiences as a Gator and an NFL player. The example that he is trying to set is to be successful on and off the field.
“I've done the things that they're trying to do,” said Jackson. “I can relate to them in a different way than their parents and coaches can.”
Jackson definitely has plenty of experiences to share. He played in 36 games for the Gators from 1995-98, starting in 16 of those contests. He totaled 1,794 yards and 17 touchdowns rushing and 645 yards and four touchdowns receiving. He had four 100-yard rushing games during his senior year in 1998 and was named the team's Most Outstanding Running Back. Taken in the fifth round of the 1999 NFL Draft, Jackson spent seven years with the San Francisco 49ers.
Perhaps even more important was Jackson's success in the classroom. He was named to the 1998 GTE Academic All-America Second Team and was a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll four times. The Business Administration major, who also had an outside specialization in exercise sports science, received an Outstanding Senior Leadership Award from the University upon his graduation.
Jackson's wealth of experience, on and off the field, allows him to be the mentor that the young Gator football players need. Much of it starts in the classroom. Since Jackson has been here, he has worked with the Office of Student Life to monitor the players' off-the-field activities and improve their production in the classroom. The effects have already been seen, as the team posted a 2.86 GPA in the 2008 Spring semester, the highest since Coach Meyer has been at UF.
The goal is to help the players succeed in all facets of their life. Jackson and the OSL work to keep the players in check and help them adjust to life on a college campus. One of the major things involves paying attention to the learning styles of the athletes. This is an important aspect for the athletes' development in the classroom, and another plan in the works includes the hiring of a learning specialist to work specifically with football.
Another portion of the athletes' development is being involved in the community.
The football program has formed a partnership with the African-American Accountability Alliance (4As) of Alachua County to become affiliated with local schools. The 4As is an organization of African-American professionals who are committed to promoting positive change in Alachua County's African-American community. Through this partnership, the BLAQUE (Bold Leaders, Achieving Quality, Unity and Excellence) program was developed for the football team to get involved with local schools.
The BLAQUE program partnered 15 area middle school children with two mentors, one from the Gator football team and one from the local community. The goal is to affect change in the lives of at-risk black youth in the area. Jackson also takes players to after-school programs where they talk to the kids about football and life.
“It's been good,” said Lamartinez Walker, who attends Howard Bishop Middle School and is being mentored by Coach Meyer and sophomore offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey. “They do a lot of activities with us and they're going to help us be better in life.”
“We want them to do something positive with their lives and not be a statistic,” said Jackson. “The main thing is we want to affect behavior and maybe change their world.”
This program has just as much of an effect on the players as it does on the kids. Jackson said players can learn a lot from these activities, such as public speaking skills.
“It brings perspective to life, it humbles you,” said Jackson. “You look back when you were that kid and you were sitting there listening to someone speak to you. Now, you're up there speaking and they're sitting and listening to you.”
