The Olympian: Meet Adoree' Jackson, College Football's Best Athlete

On Adoree’ Jackson’s official university bio, nestled below an introduction that definitively and appropriately anoints him the most exciting player in college football, below the stream of accolades he acquired in one calendar year, headlined by All-American honors in two sports, exists a direct comparison to the man he’s chasing, the most dynamic athlete to ever put on pads.

The title of this section is noteworthy: Adoree’ Jackson vs. Charles Woodson. Below is a round-by-round rundown of statistics, many of which are remarkably similar. It’s as if they’re competing against one another, generations apart.

On this particular offseason day, less than a week before Jackson will undoubtedly leap 25 feet and 11 inches—earning him fifth in the long jump at the NCAA track and field championships—I can’t help but start with that magnificent bio.

We’ll get to track and a possible visit to the Olympics momentarily. But what about Woodson?

Without hesitation, USC’s three-position, two-sport star brightens. He walks me through a career-defining Woodson play and how easy he made it appear. The catch. The instincts. The flash. All of it.

He continues. Instead of detouring the conversation to something more vanilla, the flair bursts through like a five o'clock summer Florida downpour.

“It puts in my mind what greatness was,” Jackson told Bleacher Report. “He showed me what I have to do to win the Heisman, and I want to win the Heisman. I have to see what he did, emulate all of his accolades and make sure I can do the same or even better.”

There’s a weight to this response, a kind of bulk that would leave most normal young men drowning in their own conviction. But he’s in no need of our assistance. He knows precisely what he’s doing in his very different worlds.

There is life as a football star. There is his life as a track star. There are no favorites.

It’s why talk of winning a Heisman and long-jumping at the 2016 Olympics are duo conversations that are as reasonable as they are astonishing.

It is all one elaborate competition. Someone before him showed it could be done, and now he wants to match it or, better yet, do more. He does this not because he appreciates the greatness attached. Jackson does this because deep down he knows he can do one better.

“He is the most humble, flamboyant kid I have ever seen,” Scott Altenberg, Jackson’s high school coach said. “Normally as a coach we’re telling kids not to draw attention on themselves, but he’s not doing that. It’s the weirdest thing. The kid just puts himself into something and goes all-in.”

The Makings of a 5-Star

Image via 247Sports

There he was, two feet tall, taking on a group of athletically engineered cartoon monsters.

Bobbling in front of his family room television at the age of one, Jackson fell in love with the movie Space Jam. He fell in love with Michael Jordan even before he knew why. What Jordan did on the virtual court, Adoree’ did. With Jackson’s family looking on, the two conquered the Monstars weekly.

After he learned to walk, Jackson next fell in love with basketball and soccer. In sixth grade he found his next love. One random day he stumbled upon the now-infamous high school football footage of a young man named Reggie Bush. He was mesmerized.

“He’s my favorite athlete. That’s why I started playing football, when I saw his highlights,” Jackson said. “The first thing I told my dad was can you sign me up for football, because I felt like I could do the same things he did. He signed me up.”

In each knee-terrorizing juke; in each long touchdown run where the defense was running in slow motion; in each glimpse of raw, underappreciated power, Jackson saw himself. Then living in Illinois, his coaches placed him at running back and off he went.

He stayed there until his sophomore year, when Jackson’s family moved to California. Jackson enrolled at Junipero Serra High School in Gardena during the summer, anxious to join a program that has watched current NFL players Marqise Lee, Robert Woods, George Farmer and others cycle through. It has harvested USC talent.

Given Jackson’s reputation as a track star and nothing more, Altenberg was anxious to see how the new kid’s speed would translate.

“It took me about seven minutes to figure out he had talent,” Altenberg said. “And it didn’t take long for him to become a fixture on our team. This guy was a jumper, and he also happened to play football.”

In his second practice, Altenberg had his team participate in a jump ball in the back of the end zone. The head coach of 17 years tossed Jackson into the drill against one of the team’s supreme athletes, not expecting much.

Jackson calmly walked onto the field, completely unfazed by the unfamiliarity. As the ball floated toward the end zone, he launched himself vertically. He came down with the football—carving out a scene fit for a poster.

“I remember it like it was yesterday, because I have never seen a kid get up so fast,” Altenberg said. “He landed like a cat, even though he was completely horizontal in the air. He’s just got some amazing ability.”

Over the next three seasons, Jackson played a variety of positions. As a senior he averaged 9.7 yards per rush and 21.4 yards per catch, according to MaxPreps. He also settled in as one of the nation’s elite corners, picking off 17 passes in three years.

With each electrifying moment, his profile grew larger. After Serra blew out teams with great regularity, members of the opposing team would often stop Jackson to take a photo. He didn’t mind one bit, and neither did his coach. A star was being born.

College coaches flocked to Serra to see the young man in action. In the spring, they would gather around the practice field and watch Altenberg’s team take reps. Instead of focusing on the football, however, the army of golf shirt-wearing, clipboard-holding worker bees would gaze off into the distance at the track situated around the field.

There was Jackson, in a different uniform entirely.

“We had recruiters there to watch our football team and they would just be staring at Adoree’ running in circles,” Altenberg said. “They wouldn’t even be watching us. I’d be like, ‘Hey, guys, we’re over here.’ ”

The Makings of a Track Star

Alex Gallardo/Associated Press

Within seconds of starting our interview, I realize I’ve underestimated the young man and his passions. Finally, after talking about catching footballs and stopping others from catching footballs, we’re talking about jumping great distances without helmets.

The long-jumping portion of the interview has arrived, and Jackson’s energy has not subsided. If anything, he’s even more animated.

“This is something I have been passionate about since eighth grade, and I don’t take this as a joke,” Jackson said. “When people see I’m a two-sport athlete, they think I’m doing it just to do it. Some people think I’m doing it to get better at football, but I’m doing it to be one of the USC greats that are up on the track and field wall.”

Two-sport stars are not unusual. In fact, former Serra and USC great Marqise Lee double-dipped in both sports while playing for the Trojans. Others regularly follow a similar path, using track as an offseason elixir—a way to search for untapped speed. That is not the case here.

Just as his football career was blossoming, Jackson made a definitive statement to his parents. Before he even reached high school, Jackson told them he wanted to compete in the Olympics.

At the time, it didn’t mean much. It is not unusual for children to aim for the stars. I wanted to be an astronaut at one point in my life. It is unusual for such lofty goals to be within reach so quickly.

Less than one year from the Summer Olympics in Rio, the plot has thickened.

“Now that it’s coming up again next year, we’ll see,” Jackson said. “God willing, I will be able to get out there and make the team.”

Jackson sprinted with the Trojans. He ran relays and also showed well in the 100-meter sprint. His true area of expertise, however, is the long jump.

His jump of 25 feet, 11 inches on June 11—a personal best—put him mere inches away from the top-three finish in the nation.

He’s no lock for the Olympics. Making the team will be a tremendous battle if he chooses to pursue it. On the verge of making an outstanding living playing football, however, he’s not simply settling on that path.

“If I’m going to do something, I am going to put 110 percent in it,” he said. “Whatever sport I am in is the sport I am going to be dedicated toward the most.”

Steve Sarkisian, the head football coach at USC, would agree. He’s seen it firsthand. It’s what drew him to Jackson in the first place, back before anyone else knew what he would become.

While he knows the conversations regarding the Olympics will grow louder in the coming months, the two have yet to reach that point.

“We haven’t got there yet,” Sarkisian said. “We plan to address it after the season. I really want him to be focused on September 5. That’s when our season kicks off.”

The Makings of a Superstar

Harry How/Getty Images

While searching for the appropriate comparisons to his star player, Sarkisian cycles through his magnificent USC Rolodex of All-Pros and future Hall of Famers. There is a brief silence.

“Maybe Troy Polamalu,” Sarkisian says, struggling to find the right name. “He was very gifted this way and probably could have played on offense, returned punts and does all the things Adoree’ does. We just weren’t in that frame of mind at the time as a program.”

Now the head coach at USC, his frame of mind has changed. Sarkisian’s history with USC cycles back to 2001, when he had multiple stops in Los Angeles before finally landing the job as head coach.

Before this job was ever open, Sarkisian was the head coach at Washington. It was at his former school that he offered Jackson a scholarship—the first one he received. He was in ninth grade.

“I’ve always felt he was unique. I’ve always felt he was special,” Sarkisian said. “I’ve always felt there was something about him, and I could never really put my finger on it. I think in the end, that’s why he’s here at USC. I think he felt that same commitment from me.”

On national signing day in 2014, Sarkisian secured the most significant commitment of his coaching career only months into the job. Jackson, the nation’s No. 1 CB and 247Sports’ No. 7 player overall, picked the Trojans over UCLA, Tennessee, Florida, LSU and others. 

Months later, when the season arrived, Sarkisian wasted little time making Jackson a fixture of the program.

“As a true freshman, his football IQ was very high. His energy level was off the charts,” Sarkisian said. “The guy can play forever. Adoree’ has a great work ethic, and you don’t always see that with 5-star guys. He wants to be unique. He wants to be special.”

Playing cornerback, moonlighting as a wide receiver and returning kicks, Jackson finished with 49 tackles and deflected 10 passes. On offense, he caught 10 passes, three of which were touchdowns. On special teams, he averaged nearly 30 yards per kick return and scored two more touchdowns.

It was eye-opening. And yet, staying true to character, Jackson was not satisfied.

“I felt like I didn’t have a very good season on defense,” Jackson said. “I didn’t get any interceptions, but I had a lot of pass breakups. People give me a lot of praise for how good the season was, but I’m a hard grader on myself. I feel like I could do a lot more.”

While his NFL future is likely at cornerback, Jackson will be asked to fill a variety of roles this season once again.

On top of playing defense, Jackson will play wideout, return kickoffs and will likely return punts. During this past spring, he switched off between offense and defense. One day he was catching passes, the next he was defending them.

“I am very comfortable doing it,” he said. “I am just so eager to learn and challenge myself. On the offensive side, I love it because the crowd goes crazy. But on defense, you want to stop those oohs and ahhs. If you do that, then they’ll cheer."

Every rep he takes is closely monitored. Although Jackson wears different hats, the coaching staff is distinctly aware of his workload. Thankfully, he retains information so well that he rarely has to repeat a drill.

How he’s utilized during games will depend less on what Jackson’s doing and more on variables outside of his control.

“A lot of that depends quite honestly on his teammates, and I know that sounds odd,” Sarkisian said. “But it’s more about what they can handle and how much load they can take off of him so he can do things in other areas.”

The open-ended nature of that response leaves a great deal to be determined. Regardless of how his teammates take to their singular positions, Jackson will be given opportunities to deliver a season distinct from anything we've seen in nearly two decades. Maybe ever.

Playing at a storied program hoping to recapture its magic formula, Jackson will be asked to be Charles Woodson. He will be asked to be Reggie Bush, the human highlight who jump-started it all. He will be asked—and perhaps expected is more appropriate—to do one (or two) better than last year, which will be no small feat.

And when that part of his life is over, hopefully in the middle of January with a visit to New York City sandwiched in between, he will shift his focus to jumping as far as he possibly can. Rio, at that point, could become a reality just as his junior season is taking shape.

It is a chaotic and unusual life for a young man always in motion, be it on the ground or through the air, with a helmet or without. This is the athletic life he has chosen to live, although I can't help but ask the question that has been on my mind since he started speaking.

Aren’t you tired?

“I’m just having fun. When you’re not having fun, that’s when it gets tiring,” Jackson said. “But I’m enjoying just being out there. It’s a blessing to do what I’m doing.”

On September 19, USC will play Stanford in its first true test of the season—a game that could help spark a Pac-12 championship, a Heisman campaign or something more.

The day before, the most exciting player in college football will celebrate his birthday in Los Angeles. He will turn 20 years old.

Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand.