On His Own

PHILADELPHIA – Russell Biggs vividly recalls the chain of events that brought a 15-year-old Adoree’ Jackson from the small town of Belleville, Ill., to Southern California.

Biggs, then the long jump coach at Junípero Serra High School in Gardena, Calif., was overheard at a T.G.I. Fridays in Los Angeles talking up one of his long jumpers, Marqise Lee.

Interrupting Biggs’ conversation was Jackson’s brother-in-law, Jason Keene, who took the opportunity to endorse Adoree’, citing his 23-foot, 11-inch broad jump as a freshman. Biggs was skeptical, prompting Keene, who worked security at the restaurant, to provide evidence, pulling up ESPN’s top high school athletes.

Sure enough, there was Jackson.

His interest now piqued, Biggs needed to find a way to meet Jackson in person. He asked Keene if Jackson also played football, which Jackson did. The wheels now turning, Biggs suggested to him that Jackson come out to USC’s football camp, an easy-to-meet request given Jackson’s regard for Trojans running back Reggie Bush.

“When I first laid eyes on [Adoree’], I was at USC waiting for his brother to bring him up there so we could go to registration for the football camp,” Biggs began. “So, he’s walking – I see him — and he has on some pajama bottoms, the typical tee and a little swag bag.

“He broke out a big smile. I said, ‘What’s up, Adoree’?’ We shook hands, he smiled and he was like, ‘What’s up, Coach Biggs?’ And his demeanor was just all smiles and all positive. And extremely confident.”

Eagles CB Adoree’ Jackson won the starting job out of training camp, but he’s constantly being pushed.

Jackson, who’d just finished his freshman year of high school, was initially grouped with the freshman at the start of the camp. Shortly after the camp was underway, USC head coach Lane Kiffin had apparently seen enough, barking out directives to have Jackson join the group of senior participants.

Jackson, a running back at the time, was promptly reassigned to wide receiver. Pausing for a moment to set the scene, Biggs recalled a sequence that showcased Jackson’s resilience and competitive toughness, demonstrated during a one-on-one period that paired wide receivers against defensive backs.

“Adoree’ goes up, and a DB kind of abused him,” Biggs recalled. “And he took the ball, Adoree’ fell down. Adoree’ turned around as he’s walking back, and the next guy’s coming up to go to receiver. Adoree’ says, ‘No, I’m going again!’ And he said, ‘Hey, bring him back up!’

“So, everybody goes, ‘Ohhh! You’re getting called out!’ So, he goes, him and the quarterback said something. He does a little razzle-dazzle. He goes up, snatches the ball and abused the DB. And everybody went crazy.”

Years later, Jackson is a starting cornerback for the Eagles, his third team since being a 2017 first-round pick by the Titans out of USC.

After that camp, he eventually returned to California thanks to Biggs’ full-court press to get Jackson to Junípero Serra, a school so small, Biggs said, that all of the students in attendance could be seen by standing in the middle of the quad.

When asked what he thought, Jackson simply shrugged, skeptical about its size. Biggs, though, pulled out all the stops. Now exploiting the football angle and potential for greater exposure, Biggs reminded Jackson that alums such as Lee and Robert Woods played football at USC.

Jackson returned to Belleville and was phoned by a curious, and uneasy, Biggs for a temperature check shortly after. He spoke to Jackson’s parents, his mother bullish on the idea of her son taking the leap of faith on his future but his father reluctant to see his son off to the West Coast, where he at 15 years old would be 1,600 miles away from home.

Helping matters, however, is that Jackson wouldn’t be completely isolated, as his sister and Keene would be close by. And while not everyone is equipped to respond positively to such a jarring uprooting, Biggs sensed that Jackson was built to endure.

“Different kids have different demeanors,” he explained. “There are some kids that I wouldn’t have even suggested it, because I knew they wouldn’t be able to handle it. But he was eager. He was confident, but he wanted more. We started talking about the future, and he’s talking about Reggie Bush, and ‘I wanna be like that.’”

Ultimately, he headed west with hopes of fulfilling his dream, enrolling at Junípero Serra for the fall semester.

When it came to football, Jackson would encounter early turbulence. Biggs recounted fielding a phone call from one of the football coaches, explaining the team wouldn’t use Jackson at running back and couldn’t use him at wide receiver, due to a surplus of talent at the position.

“You know what this coach said to me?” a still-astounded Biggs asked. “He said, ‘I don’t think your guy is gonna make the team.’”

But Biggs, citing Jackson’s speed and explosiveness evidenced by his long-jumping prowess, suggested another position.

“They put him at corner,” Biggs began. “In the first game, it was bad. It was not good, but they left him alone. By the third game, and I’m not exaggerating, his footwork, his movement … it looked like he’d been a corner all his life.”

Eagles CB Adoree’ Jackson left his home in Illinois for California in high school.

Jackson parlayed his success on the gridiron into a historic track season that spring, leaping over 25 feet at a state meet, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in California at the time.

Although he had access to food where he was staying, Jackson would also prove to be resourceful when it came to scrounging up a few extra bucks. He’d ask his father to purchase bags of Red Hot Riplets’ chips, a Belleville staple that couldn’t be found in Southern California, and ship them out to him. Jackson then sold the bags of chips to generate a modest cash flow.

Jackson didn’t like asking his parents for money, explaining thoughtfully that his parents had “other things to worry about,” and he didn’t deem it to be necessary.

In many ways, Jackson’s early bout with adversity, before he went on to star at USC, has shaped his mindset. Comfortable is his own skin, Jackson conveys an air of confidence balanced with humility and perspective.

The Eagles’ veteran cornerback boasts the ideal temperament for position of trade; through the good plays and even the missed opportunities, Jackson remains even-keeled, personifying the all-important short-term memory essentially required to play his position.

He leads in a different way; he isn’t one to harp on teammates, recognizing that everyone accepts pointers differently. Instead, Jackson spreads positivity and imparts wisdom among his room, where he can pull from previous life experiences.

“To be able to let ’em know, like, ‘Shit gonna be all right,'” he added. “I done been through it, and look at me, I’m still here. I done came out of it. So, never get too big, never get too low or too small on yourself and just keeping going every day.

“I think that’s the role for me. And just trying to stack and get better, and show that no matter what level you are in – no matter what your situation is – all you control is your controllables. And that’s coming in to work and trying to improve and get better.”

That Jackson ably navigated a reality of being away from family and figuring things out on his own can be traced back to what fueled him from the start.

He didn’t want to go back home. He wanted to prove himself in California, prove that folks from the midwest could play. He strived to make his parents, who selflessly stood by their son, proud. They could have said no. And at any moment Jackson could have just as easily packed in it and caught the next flight home.

The latter was never really an option, though, as Jackson is cut from a different cloth.

In our lengthy conversation, Jackson took a moment to commend his father for the impact he’s had on his life, telling me his upbringing has factored prominently into shaping his character and outlook on life, which helped him persevere and grow.

“I learned from a young age, when I was with my dad, seeing how he maneuvered as a man,” he explained. “How he worked hard and how he never really asked for anything, and was just like, ‘All right. At the end of the day, you’ll figure it out.’

“I feel like that’s what my last name is about. At the end of the day, you’re gonna have to figure it out, and you’re gonna be all right. The sky is not falling – it may look like that clouds may be a little low, ’cause it’s a little fog – but you’re gonna be all right. The sun’s gonna come out eventually. As long as you stay down and keeping going, you’re gonna be all right.”

Eagles CB Adoree’ Jackson is with his third team in 9 years.

You aren’t likely to see Jackson hang his head all that often following a tough play. He’s his own biggest critic, to be sure, but Jackson has been around long enough to ingrain within him a next-play mentality. Learn and rebound. Take the good with the bad and keep swinging.

Past experiences have armed him with the invaluable gift of perspective and mental toughness, a favorable combination for someone in his role.

That’s not to suggest the chip on his shoulder has suddenly dissipated. Nine years into his career, he believes it remains, a mark carried everywhere with Jackson, one he wears like a badge of honor.

“I do,” he said, before pausing for a moment of reflection. “Yeah, I do. And I don’t feel like it goes away. And no matter what pinnacle or height you may reach, I just feel like, to me, I’m always trying to make my family proud. I just wanna make sure that they know they made the right decision. I feel like they know now, nine years in the league, but every day, just trying to do things to show them that I am OK in this evil world that we live in. And that they raised me right.

“So that’s the chip that I have, for me, is just to make sure that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do at all times. At the end of the day, I don’t want my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister or anybody to hear anything about me and it’s like, ‘Damn, that’s not how he was raised.’ That’s my chip, to make sure I’m doing everything I can to represent my last name the best way that I can.”

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com