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No CouNteRfeit Bill
Don’t look for NFL
Coe College Courier
stardom to have
much of an effect
on Coe’s Fredrick Jackson
’03. This is a man who knows
where he came from and what
it took to get to the mountain-
top of professional football.
“It’s been fun more than
anything,” Jackson said in a
telephone interview as the
NFL season was winding
down. “I’m just trying to live
the dream.”
Jackson’s dream differs from
all of his 52 teammates and
nearly all of his 1,695 NFL
colleagues. Signed by the
Buffalo Bills as an undrafted
free agent in 2006 after two
years with the Sioux City
Bandits of United Indoor
Football, Jackson was one
of eight former Division III
student-athletes to make an
NFL roster in 2007.
So how did he spend his first
NFL paycheck? “Paying
student loans to Coe College!”
That answer puts him in even
smaller company. Jackson
joined Carey Bender ’95,
who spent two years on the
Bills’ practice squad, as the
Jackson finds action in Buffalo
only Coe graduates to advance
to the NFL as players.
Bender was active in one game
in 1996, while Jackson appeared
in eight games for the Bills
in 2007. After he toiled for
most of the season as Buffalo’s
“emergency” quarterback,
injuries thrust him into the
lineup at running back, where
he proved to be an important
part of the Bills’ offense.
A diamond in the rough
A native of Fort Worth, Texas,
Jackson began his improbable
journey to the NFL as a
skinny kid who, along with
twin brother Patrick Jackson
’03, caught the eye of the head
football coach and athletics
coordinator at Nichols Junior
High School.
“They were small but tough,
knew the game and were
fundamentally sound,” said
Coe Hall of Famer Wayne
Phillips ’56. “Also, they
were good citizens with good
morals and high character.
They needed an opportunity
to get an education and play
football and run track.”
At Lamar High School in
Arlington, the Jacksons had
Fredrick Jackson ’03 made his first NFL start Dec. 2 against the Washington
Redskins, netting 151 yards rushing and receiving. He is the first former
Division III player to start at running back since Chris Warren in 2000.
Photo courtesy the Buffalo Bills.
the misfortune of being in the
same class with Tommicus
Walker, who won the
Mayfield Workman Award in
1998 as the area’s best high
school football player. While
Walker received a football
scholarship from Division I
Texas Christian University,
Phillips steered the Jacksons
to Coe, where each excelled in
football and track and majored
in sociology.
“Coach Phillips really taught
them the art of football,” said
the twins’ mother, Latricia
Jackson. “The best thing he
ever did for them was take
them to Coe so they could
continue their football careers
and get an education.”
Walker drifted off the football
landscape after transferring
to Nebraska, where he never
played a down. Fredrick,
meanwhile, parlayed his small
college experience into an
NFL contract.
A home away from home
raised in a tight-knit family,
the Jacksons struggled
with homesickness their
first semester at Coe until,
at Phillips’ urging, Senior
Development Officer Dan
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