Bernard Lewis Jackson (born April 2, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

. As a junior, he was the starter for a majority of the 2006 season before losing his eligibility for academic reasons for his senior season.

High school

Jackson played

for the Santiago Sharks at Santiago High School in

Corona, California Corona (Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and north ...

College

2003–2005

Jackson

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman year at Colorado, where he was a communications major. In 2004, he saw action in six games at wide receiver and punt returner with minimal statistics recorded. He dislocated his elbow during a punt return which caused him to miss three games. In 2005, Jackson saw action in six games early in the season, mainly in spot action and as a kick returner and tailback, again recording minimal statistics.

2006

With a new head giving coach,

Dan Hawkins Danny Clarence Hawkins (born November 10, 1960) is an American football coach at UC Davis. A former player and sportscaster, he served as the head football coach at Willamette University (1993–1997), Boise State University (2001–2005), and th ...

, all positions were up for grabs (except the kicker, which

Mason Crosby Mason Walker Crosby (born September 3, 1984) is an American football placekicker for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Colorado, and earned unanimous All-American honors. The Packers chos ...

already had a lock on the position), especially the quarterback position with

Joel Klatt Joel Klatt (born February 4, 1982) is a college football color commentator and analyst for Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports. Klatt played college football for the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Colorado (CU) Colorado Buffalo ...

's eligibility used up. James Cox, the only senior quarterback on the team and the only quarterback with career starts for experience was thought to be the favorite. But he missed all of spring training with a broken thumb while his two main competitors, juniors Jackson and Brian White practiced. (

Cody Hawkins Cody Norman Hawkins (born March 24, 1988) is an American college football coach and a former professional and college football player. He is the head football coach at Idaho State University. Hawkins played as a quarterback for the Colorad ...

, also the head coach's son,

for the 2006 season.) On August 20, 2006, Coach Hawkins announced Cox would be the starting quarterback. He started the first game of the season on September 2, 2006, against Division I-AA

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

. Colorado lost the game 19–10 in the start of the horrible season. Cox went 8–22 with no touchdowns or interceptions. Cox was surprisingly replaced as starter the following week by Jackson. Jackson remained the starter for the rest of the season. Jackson was named as an honorable mention to the Colorado Buffaloes's all-decade team due to his excellence on and off the field.

2007

Jackson had strong competition from Cody Hawkins, Matt Ballenger, and Nick Nelson to remain the quarterback for this season. He was named one of three captains for the 2007 season prior to spring practice, where it was reported he may switch to another position. However, he was not able to remain academically eligible.

2010

Jackson played his final year of eligibility at Division II CSU–Pueblo, with 34 receptions for 453 yards. He completed his degree in 2011.

Statistics

Legal trouble

Jackson and teammate Lionel Harris were arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary, aggravated robbery and felony menacing in connection with a June 5 robbery in an apartment in the 1000 block of University Avenue. On January 22, 2009, Jackson pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and was sentenced to 5 and one-half years in prison. On December 1, 2009, Jackson was released on probation, which would continue until late 2014.

Coaching career

From 2011 to 2014, Jackson was wide receivers coach at CSU–Pueblo. From 2015 to 2018, Jackson has coached quarterbacks and wide receivers for Pueblo East High School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Bernard 1985 births Living people American football quarterbacks Colorado Buffaloes football players American people convicted of theft Sportspeople from Corona, California Players of American football from Los Angeles CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves football coaches High school football coaches in Colorado Sports coaches from Los Angeles