Name | DeSean Jackson |
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Width | 280px |
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Caption | Jackson with the Eagles in August 2009. |
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Currentteam | Philadelphia Eagles |
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Currentnumber | 10 |
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Currentposition | Wide receiver |
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Birthdate | December 01, 1986 |
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Birthplace | Long Beach, California |
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Heightft | 5 |
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Heightin | 10 |
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Weight | 175 |
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College | California |
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Draftyear | 2008 |
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Draftround | 2 |
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Draftpick | 49 |
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Debutyear | 2008 |
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Debutteam | Philadelphia Eagles |
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Pastteams | |
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Status | Active |
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Highlights | |
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Statweek | 17 |
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Statseason | 2010 |
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Statlabel1 | Receptions |
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Statvalue1 | 171 |
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Statlabel2 | Receiving Yards |
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Statvalue2 | 3,124 |
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Statlabel3 | Receiving TDs |
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Statvalue3 | 17 |
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Nfl | JAC127681 |
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DeSean Jackson (born December 1, 1986) is an
American football wide receiver for the
Philadelphia Eagles of the
National Football League. He was drafted by the Eagles in the second round of the
2008 NFL Draft. He played
college football at the
University of California, Berkeley.
Jackson is the first player to be selected to the Pro Bowl at two different positions at once. He was named to the 2010 Pro Bowl as a wide receiver and return specialist. He was also named to the 2011 Pro Bowl.
Early years
Jackson attended
Long Beach Polytechnic High School, the same high school as future Eagles teammate
Winston Justice and many other current NFL players. He became one of the top wide receiver recruits in the nation, with many collegiate football programs pursuing his services. He was named the 2004
Glenn Davis Award winner by the
Los Angeles Times as Southern California's player of the year. He also played baseball and was scouted by both the
Tampa Bay Rays and
Philadelphia Phillies in his senior year.
College career
strong safety
Eric Frampton]]
Wearing the number 1, in his first collegiate game against Sacramento State in 2005, Jackson scored both an offensive and special teams touchdown, returning a punt 49 yards for a score. Throughout his freshman season, Jackson picked up 38 receptions for 601 yards along with seven touchdowns, eclipsing the 100-yard mark three times. In the 2005 Las Vegas Bowl game against BYU, Jackson tallied 130 yards and two scores.
Coming into his sophomore year with high expectations, Jackson displayed more of his talent and playmaking ability, tallying 1,060 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Jackson also returned four punts for touchdowns. He earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors as both a punt returner and a wide receiver. Jackson garnered national recognition with selections to first-team All-America by the Associated Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Football Writers Association of America, the Sporting News and Rivals.com as a punt returner. Jackson also captured the inaugural Randy Moss Award as the top return man in the nation. In one of only two California losses in Pac-10 play, Jackson had a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown against Arizona.
Jackson entered his junior season being considered a Heisman Trophy candidate. His season began promisingly, with a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown against Tennessee in the opening game of the season. Against eleventh-ranked Oregon, he caught 11 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bears to their first victory in Autzen Stadium since 1987. Jackson finished the 2007 season with 65 catches for 762 yards, and scored six touchdowns as a receiver. Jackson was named an All-American as a return specialist. Jackson suffered several minor injuries that limited his effectiveness at times during the season, along with a right thigh injury that forced him to miss most of the game against Washington and the Big Game against Stanford. He performed well in positional drills, running routes fluidly and catching passes very well displaying his well-known agility and quickness. He also posted a standing broad jump of 10 feet.
Philadelphia Eagles
2008 season
On April 26, 2008, Jackson was drafted in the second round (49th overall) of the
2008 NFL Draft by the
Philadelphia Eagles. He was the seventh wide receiver taken in the draft which saw for the first time ever no wide receivers drafted in the first round. On July 20, he agreed to terms on a four-year contract with the team.
Jackson had a good preseason performance, which included a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown against the New England Patriots in week 3. After the Eagles' roster was cut to its maximum 53-man limit for the season, he was listed as the starting punt returner and as a second-string wide receiver.
Due to injuries sustained by Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown, Jackson was the first rookie to start opening day for head coach Andy Reid. On September 7, Jackson collected six catches for 106 yards in a 38–3 win over the St. Louis Rams. He also returned eight punts for a total of 97 yards, including a 60-yard punt return to set up a field goal. He had over 200 all-purpose yards, a record for a rookie wide receiver. During a Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys on September 15, Jackson celebrated prematurely before running into the end zone by flipping the football behind him at the one-yard line. This led to what would have otherwise been his first NFL touchdown to be challenged and overturned, with Brian Westbrook running in for a touchdown from the one-yard line on the next play. Jackson finished the game with 110 yards on six receptions, becoming only the second receiver in NFL history to have over 100 yards receiving in each of his first two games since the Eagles' Don Looney in 1940.
On September 28, Jackson recorded his first offensive touchdown against the Chicago Bears. During this game, he also fumbled a punt return that set up the Bears' go ahead score. The following week against the Washington Redskins on October 5, Jackson returned his first punt return for a touchdown with a 68-yard return. Jackson scored his first rushing touchdown on November 9 on a direct snap in the wildcat formation with a nine-yard run against the New York Giants. A rematch against the Giants on December 7 which resulted in a 20-14 upset of the defending Super Bowl champions marked the first time in the season that Jackson did not have a reception. The following week, Jackson rebounded, recording 77 yards on five catches in a 30–10 victory over the Cleveland Browns. Jackson's final touchdown of the season came in the on January 18, 2009 against the Arizona Cardinals, when he managed to haul in a 62-yard touchdown. Jackson narrowly finished second to Curtis in postseason receiving yards with 207 to Curtis' 211.
Jackson finished a successful rookie season equaling and surpassing the feats of two other Eagles rookies, Keith Jackson and Don Looney. His 912 receiving yards set a new Eagles rookie record and surpassed the previous mark of 869 set by Keith Jackson in 1988. He was the first rookie to lead the team in receptions, another feat accomplished by Keith Jackson. DeSean Jackson also set the team record for receptions with 62.
2009 season
In week 1 against the
Carolina Panthers, Jackson had his second punt return for an 85-yard touchdown, the second longest in Eagles history. The following week
Kevin Kolb threw his first career touchdown pass to Jackson against the
New Orleans Saints for 71 yards. Jackson had 149 receiving yards against the
Kansas City Chiefs on September 27 which included a 64-yard touchdown reception. Against the
Oakland Raiders on October 17 he caught six receptions for 94 yards, including a 51-yard diving fingertips catch, in a 13–9 loss.
Jackson caught a 57-yard touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb that gave McNabb his 200th career touchdown and 30,000th career passing yards on October 26 against the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. He also scored his first rushing touchdown of the season on a 67-yard reverse. Jackson injured his right foot during the game and had an x-ray during halftime, but returned to play during the third quarter. He was later named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
In a week 11 matchup on Sunday Night Football against the Chicago Bears, Jackson caught eight passes for 107 yards and a touchdown as the Eagles won a close game, 24-20. On November 29 against the Redskins, Jackson had to leave the game after sustaining a concussion after a helmet-to-helmet hit by linebacker London Fletcher. Jackson recorded two receptions, including a 35-yard touchdown. Jackson missed the next game due to his concussion, but returned on December 13 against the New York Giants. Jackson had a career day, as he caught six passes for 178 yards including a 60-yard touchdown pass from McNabb and a 72 yard punt return for a touchdown (combined for 261 all purpose yards). The game would also put him at eight touchdowns of over 50 yards in a single season, tying an NFL record shared only by Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch and Devin Hester. For his performance against the Giants, Jackson was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
The following week against the San Francisco 49ers, Jackson went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season with 140 receiving yards, including a 19-yard touchdown reception as the Eagles clinched a playoff berth. On December 27, he had four catches for 33 yards and a two-yard touchdown, his shortest touchdown of the season, in a win against the Denver Broncos.
Jackson was nearly shut down by the Dallas Cowboys in the regular season finale, with only two passes for 36 yards in a 24–0 rout of the Eagles. In a rematch the following week on January 3, 2010 against the Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card Game, he was held by Dallas to three catches for 14 yards, including a six-yard touchdown pass in the 34–14 loss.
Jackson ended the season as the Eagles' leading receiver with 1,167 yards. He was selected to the 2010 Pro Bowl as a starting wide receiver and a kick returner, the first time in Pro Bowl history that a player was selected at two different positions. At the Pro Bowl, Jackson caught six passes for a team-high 101 yards and two touchdowns, including a 58-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass from McNabb. He was selected to the Sporting News' All-Pro team as a punt returner for the 2009 season, averaging 15.2 yards per punt return in 2009 as the league leader.
2010 season
After skipping voluntary camp in the spring, Jackson reported to training camp earlier than most veterans. However he was not speaking to the media and was said to be frustrated about how the Eagles are unwilling to negotiate a contract extension with him. Jackson was carted off the field after he suffered a back injury during the second full team workout of training camp on July 31, but the injury was not serious.
In a 35–32 victory over the Detroit Lions, Jackson had 135 receiving yards and a 45-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass. The following week against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jackson caught a 61-yard touchdown and finished the game with five receptions for 153 yards. On October 3 and 10 however, Jackson only caught five passes for 43 total yards. He scored a pair of touchdowns on October 17 against the Atlanta Falcons, one on a 31-yard run and the second on a 34-yard reception from Kevin Kolb. During the game he sustained a severe concussion after a collision with Atlanta cornerback Dunta Robinson, with both players assisted from the field. Jackson returned to play on November 7 against the Indianapolis Colts.
On November 15, Jackson caught a then career best 88-yard touchdown pass from Michael Vick on the first play from scrimmage in 59-28 a Monday Night Football victory against the Washington Redskins. He surpassed this on December 12 when he had a 91-yard touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys and also finished the game with a personal best 210 receiving yards.
The Miracle at the New Meadowlands
On December 19, Jackson returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown to lead the Eagles to a win against the New York Giants in the final 14 seconds of the game. The Eagles had trailed 31-10 with under 8 minutes to play but had come back with three unanswered touchdowns. With 14 seconds left, the game was tied at 31-31 and Jackson received the punt. He fumbled at first, but then picked it up and ran 65 yards for the score, running across the goal line when he reached it in order to wind out the time. This punt return is the first and thus far only game-winning punt return on the final play from scrimmage in the history of the NFL.
Personal
Jackson is the son of Bill and Gayle Jackson and has two older brothers Byron and William, one younger brothers named Desmond, one older sister A'dreea and one younger sister Delaney. His oldest brother Byron is a former
San Jose State wide receiver who spent two seasons on the
Kansas City Chiefs'
practice squad. DeSean intended to pursue a degree in social welfare at Cal. His father was hospitalized with pancreatic cancer during the Eagles run in the 2009 playoffs, and died on May 14, 2009. DeSean currently resides in
Moorestown, New Jersey.
Jackson was featured on the cover of the PlayStation 2 version of NCAA Football 09.
References
External links
Philadelphia Eagles bio
Cal Bears bio
Category:1986 births
Category:Living people
Category:African American players of American football
Category:American football return specialists
Category:American football wide receivers
Category:California Golden Bears football players
Category:National Conference Pro Bowl players
Category:People from Long Beach, California
Category:Philadelphia Eagles players
Category:Players of American football from California
Category:U.S. Army All-American football players