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Don Jackson has found a home in Calgary.
After being released by the Green Bay Packers in May of 2017, the dynamic running back made the trip north to join the Stampeders. Jackson was impressive from the get go, eventually winning the starting job – replacing the departed Jerome Messam.
“I feel blessed, overly blessed. I feel like God is in our favour, and I’m really, really happy. I’m happy for my vets, for all my teammates and my coaches. And I’m happy for everybody that put work into this team because that’s what it was – it took a lot of work, it took a lot of ups and downs.”
The 25-year old from Sacramento, CA., played in 13 games for the Stampeders in 2018, running the ball 160 times for 924 yards and three touchdowns. His yards-per-carry average of 5.8 was tied with the league’s leading rusher Andrew Harris for best in the CFL.
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The boisterous back caught the attention of his teammates early on for his musical abilities, dropping his own album ‘Jack Of All Trades’ early on during the campaign. The team supported his music and rallied behind their loud, high-energy compadre.
“He came into our rookie show and rapped. We tried to get him to keep going because we loved it,” quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell said.
“Just to hear a young guy with such confidence and swagger to come in those first couple of games and be a leader and to tell the o-line how much he loved them on every play how great they were doing…that’s something we haven’t had a lot here in the past. I think the o-line respects him and loves blocking for him.”
After a very successful regular season, Jackson was very excited to get his first shot at a championship. He started both post-season games, rushing for 83 yards in the Western Final against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and then accumulating 53 rushing yards to go with four catches for 39 yards and the game’s first touchdown in the Stamps’ Grey Cup victory over the Ottawa RedBlacks.
Check out some of our favourite Don Jackson photos from this past season!