Willie Jackson (American football)

Willie Bernard Jackson, Jr. (born August 16, 1971) is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Jackson played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cincinnati Bengals, the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Redskins of the NFL.

Early life
Jackson was born in Gainesville, Florida in 1971. He attended P.K. Yonge High School in Gainesville, where he was standout high school football player for the P.K. Yonge Blue Wave.

College career
Jackson received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he played for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1990 to 1993. Jackson led the team in receiving in 1991 and 1992, and was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection in 1992, and an "honorable mention" All-American in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Memorably, he had 148 receiving yards against the Notre Dame in the 1992 Sugar Bowl and 130 yards against the West Virginia mountaineers in the 1993 Sugar Bowl. He finished his four-season college career with 162 receptions for 2,172 yard and twenty-four touchdowns&mdash;still fifth on the Gators' all-time receiving yardage list. He also earned varsity letters playing for the Florida Gators men's basketball team in 1990 and 1991.

Jackson graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1993, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2008.

Professional career
Jackson had a well-traveled NFL career. The Dallas Cowboys selected him in the fourth round (109th pick overall) of the 1994 NFL Draft, but Jackson saw no playing time for the Cowboys during the 1994 season. In 1995, the NFL's two new expansion teams, the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, participated in the 1995 NFL Expansion Draft, an opportunity to pick unprotected players from the rosters of the existing NFL teams. The Jaguars picked Jackson from the Cowboys' unprotected list as the twenty-first overall pick in the expansion draft, and he played for the Jaguars for the following three seasons from 1995 to 1997, compiling 103 catches for 1,281 yards and ten touchdowns. He then played two seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1998 to 1999, but he saw little action and diminished production. Arguably his best two-year stint followed with the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2001, peaking with his best professional year in 2001&mdash;eighty-one catches for 1,046 yards and five touchdowns in sixteen starts. The following year with the Atlanta Falcons (2002), he saw little playing time and was traded to the Washington Redskins mid-season, finishing his career with his former college coach, Steve Spurrier, then head coach of the Redskins.

Jackson finished his eight-season NFL career with 284 receptions for 3,641 yards and twenty-four touchdowns.

Gator football family
Jackson's younger brother, Terry Jackson, was a tailback for the Gators from 1995 to 1998, and played running back and special teams for the San Francisco 49ers from 1999 to 2005. His father, Willie Jackson, Sr., led the Gators in all-purpose yards and kick-off returns in the early 1970s, and was one of the team's first two African-American players in 1970. All three Jacksons wore jersey number "22" for the Gators.