John Jackson III (born August 23, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Nevada Wolfpack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I (NCAA), Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrus ...

and for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

Early life and high school

Jackson, the son of former NFL wide receiver John Jackson, grew up in

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ) is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent Beach Cities, beach c ...

and attended Mater Dei High School in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

before transferring to Junípero Serra High School in

Gardena, California Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 61,027 at the 2020 census, up from 58,829 at the 2010 census. Until 2014, the U.S. census cited the City of Gardena as the ...

during his junior year. Coming out of high school, Jackson decided to commit to play

for the

College career

USC

In Jackson's first two collegiate seasons in 2019 and 2020, he played in 17 games, making just one catch for 23 yards. During the 2021 season, Jackson recorded three receptions for 16 yards. In the 2022 season, Jackson played in all 13 games for USC where he caught just one pass for three yards. After the conclusion of the 2022 season, Jackson decided to enter his name into the NCAA transfer portal. During Jackson's career at USC he played in 40 games bringing in five receptions for 42 yards.

Nevada

Jackson decided to transfer to play for the

. During Jackson's lone season with the Wolfpack in 2023, he recorded 35 receptions for 267 yards.

Professional career

After not being selected in the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

, Jackson signed with the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. He was waived on August 26, and later re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 6, 2025.

References

External links

Chicago Bears bioUSC Trojans bioNevada Wolf Pack bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, John 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California Sportspeople from Redondo Beach, California American football wide receivers Junípero Serra High School (Gardena, California) alumni USC Trojans football players Nevada Wolf Pack football players Chicago Bears players