Almost every time someone discusses Lamar Jackson, a detail about him is overlooked. The part where the youngster from Pompano Beach, Florida, had to actually sit in a classroom and figure out how to survive that too is entirely skipped over in favor of highlights like the spin moves, the impossible throws, and the Ravens crowd going crazy.
Jackson was raised in Pompano Beach’s Golden Acres public housing development. When he was eight years old, his father passed away on the same day as his grandmother. This kind of loss would crush most adults, much less a child. Felicia Jones, his mother, raised her four children mostly by herself. With a discipline that reads almost like something from a different era, she pushed Lamar through life and coached him on the field. It’s difficult not to question how much of his motivation stems from witnessing her perseverance.
Unusually for someone who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy, he didn’t join a high school football team until his junior year. Jackson played infrequently during his freshman and sophomore years at Santaluces Community High School before moving to Boynton Beach Community High School. Something clicked there. In addition to running routes, he was watching hours of movies every week, which helped him make better decisions and hone his read-option abilities. In those film rooms, he was subtly developing the work ethic that would later define him in the NFL.
The football talent was evident when he enrolled at the University of Louisville in 2015 as a communications major. The academic route was more difficult. Jackson has been candid about his difficulties in school and the differences between his time on the field and his time in the classroom. Many student-athletes experience this tension, particularly those who are burdened with the demands of an entire program and a challenging upbringing. Louisville was not a formidable force. Jackson was recruited by Bobby Petrino with the promise that he would play quarterback and nothing else. This promise was very important to a young man who had experienced too many attempts to change him.
His sophomore campaign was the kind that causes recruiting analysts to quietly acknowledge that they made a mistake. He became the first Louisville player in history to win the Heisman Trophy after throwing for 3,543 yards and 30 touchdowns and rushing for 1,571 yards and 21 more. In December 2016, at the age of 19, he stood in New York with the most iconic trophy in college football. It’s possible that no one was considering his communications classes at the time. He was still a student, though.
Before declaring for the 2018 NFL draft, Jackson returned for his junior year and finished his third season with the Cardinals. His eventual graduation from the University of Louisville, which he attributes, at least in part, to his mother’s encouragement, is something that is frequently overlooked. Completing the degree had significance beyond the diploma itself for someone who acknowledged actual academic challenges.
Jackson exudes a serious, focused, and intensely private demeanor that suggests the classroom years had an impact on him. He appears to genuinely feel thankful rather than acting it out. Academic glory and flawless grades are not central to the education narrative. It tells the story of a child from a housing project in Florida who lost his father when he was eight years old, changed schools, started football later, had academic difficulties, won the Heisman, and then returned to complete what he had begun. That specific set of facts is subtly remarkable.
