From an expelled student to an scholarship athlete: Darrell Jackson

Being the first in the family to move far away from home can be a nervous journey for some.

Darrell Jackson is the youngest of nine children from his single-mother, Lisa Jackson, and all of Jackson’s siblings live in the Big Bend area...yet Jackson has given his family reason to travel a little further outside the Big Bend now, as he is currently attending the University of Maryland on an athletic scholarship playing football.

When awarded his scholarship, Jackson had only been playing football for two seasons, and Jackson admits that in the earlier years of his years of high school, he was not the model student.

“[I was] terrorizing the school. I was bad; getting in trouble,” Jackson said. “I got expelled my ninth grade year.”

After getting expelled due to his behavior, Jackson was in need of a life change - and Jackson said it was his mother’s tears that compelled him to leave behind his bad, childish behavior.

“I changed because I saw my mama crying and she was telling me to change,” Jackson said.

That change started with Gadsden County High’s head football, Coach Corey Fuller.

“When Coach Fuller came out here, I liked him ever since he came and spoke to us in the media center,” Jackson said. “I just stayed with him and worked and this is the outcome.”

While he wanted to get into playing football, and was inspired by Coach Fuller, Jackson recalls his beginnings with football - a time when he could not run properly or lift weights.

“[Jackson] would text me every night and say ‘Coach I know you don’t believe in me but I’m going to be great’,” said strength and conditioning coach Mark Liles. “I would respond, ‘let's work.’”

When he began playing football, Jackson said his weight and eating habits were not ideal for a football player - but the more he played with the team, the coaches say his fitness habits changed, and so did his eating habits.

“As he started getting bigger and stronger, I’m sure he got hungrier,” Liles said.

Coach Corey Fuller (far right) and Coach Mark Liles (far left) stand with former Gadsden County athlete, Darrell Jackson. After being expelled from school in the ninth grade, Jackson made a return to Gadsden County High School, where he worked hard to get ahead in classes, athletics, and life. Jackson is currently attending the University of Maryland on an athletic scholarship for the university’s football program.

Jackson’s dedication to football and his health carried through during a time when he could have used a global pandemic to take a break - but during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, while school was out, Jackson continued to put forth his best effort and would work out two to three times a day.

“He turned a negative into a positive,” Liles said.

“He did everything that we told him to do from school to the field, from home back to school. That’s why he got the results he got,” Coach Fuller said. “Who wants to fail the only coach who believes in them?”

For Fuller, he says teaching Jackson the game on the field was more about offering support and guidance to a young man who had previously struggled in life and school.

Fuller said that while Jackson was learning how to win on the field, his coaches were also training Jackson how to win in life.

“We’re not in the business of winning football games,” said Fuller. “I say that because if you win life, you’ll win on the field. And that’s what we’re good at. We’re good at winning kids’ lives and helping them see something more than what they’re seeing,” Fuller said.

Jackson credits his current success to his mom and God.

Jackson’s mom, Lisa Jackson was able to visit the University of Maryland with her son in June before sending him off to college, and Lisa Jackson says that being able to visit Maryland, and speak with university staff with her son put her at ease, despite the distance.

“They shed a lot of light on everything. When they asked if I had any questions, I just couldn’t think of any,” Lisa Jackson said.

Once the Jacksons came back from their visit at the University of Maryland, it was time to prepare for Darrell Jackson’s high school graduation, and then the next day after graduation, he was back on a plane to Maryland.

“It’s heartbreaking, but I want him to go ahead and pursue his career,” Lisa Jackson said.

Darrell Jackson is currently a defensive lineman sporting number 92 on the University of Maryland’s Football Team.

Breanna Rittman - Gadsden County News Service

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From an expelled student to an scholarship athlete: Darrell Jackson

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Smithsonian WaterWays Exhibit to open at Chattahoochee museum

Maximum Velocity at Havana paintball field

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