ExtremeRavens Posted Wednesday at 11:30 AM Posted Wednesday at 11:30 AM The ball was kicked to the numbers on the right side of the field at U.S. Bank Stadium, or a long way from where Ravens safety Keondre Jackson was positioned as the fourth man in from the left. No problem. Jackson, an undrafted free agent out of Illinois State, first juked past Minnesota Vikings safety Jay Ward, then closed in as rookie returner Myles Price bounced to the inside and in his direction. Trenton Simpson arrived first, but as Price started to slip through the linebacker’s tackle he was finished off by Jackson, whose right arm dislodged the ball. Once loose, things got “crazy” at the bottom of the pile but Jackson fought for it the way he’d fought his whole life and came away with it. Two states away and a few hundred miles to the south, Freeport High School football and wrestling coach Anthony Dedmond rejoiced. “Nothing was given to him,” he said. “He didn’t have the easiest time growing up. A lot of times he could’ve quit or made excuses. He never did. Sometimes he’d come to wrestling practice a minute late and I’d send him home after he’d walked there. It was just about accountability and consistency. “His want-to is second-to-none. Everything he has is because of the work he has put in.” Baltimore has a long history of overachievers who have played outsized roles as special teams stars, from Bennie Thompson, Anthony Mitchell and Adalius Thomas to more recently Tylan Wallace. Perhaps Jackson will be next. The third-quarter turnover on Sunday was the second in as many possessions for the Vikings, helped shift the tide in what up until then had been a tight contest and led to a touchdown six plays later for a two-score lead in the Ravens’ eventual 27-19 victory. It was also just the latest in a number of notable plays by Jackson, who over the past few months has gone from the practice squad to being a game-day elevation to being signed to the 53-man roster to perhaps being on his way to etching his name into team lore. “We knew he was loose with the ball the whole week, so I was just trying to get my hand on that,” he said of the fumble he both caused and recovered. “At the bottom of the pile, it was crazy down there, but I’m just sitting down there holding the ball. I knew I had it. I knew I was going to come up with it.” Those in Jackson’s orbit, past and present, weren’t surprised. In four seasons at Illinois State, he racked up 225 tackles in 45 games (33 starts), including 14 tackles for loss, 5 1/2 sacks, five interceptions — two of which he returned for touchdowns — and had 13 pass breakups. His senior year, he played the second half of the season with a separated shoulder, was named an FCS All-American and in the season opener that year – a 40-0 wipeout at Iowa’s raucous Kinnick Stadium – had a season-high 11 tackles. One in particular stood out, though. “Even with our headsets on, he made a hit on a check-down and you could hear the pads crack,” coach Brock Spack said. “That whole stadium went ‘Oooh!’ That’s what epitomizes his career here.” It often wasn’t easy. In his early days at Illinois State, Spack told Jackson that he needed to get his grades in order if he wanted to play football there. When he first arrived, he did so as a walk-on. In high school, where he also wrestled, his path forward wasn’t always clear or certain. There were “tough times” off the field Dedmond said, noting a turbulent childhood that included Jackson moving around quite a bit including to Mississippi before returning to Freeport, a blue-collar town of about 23,000 a half hour west of Rockford. Still, if there’s one thing that Jackson loves, coaches at all three levels said, it’s football. “There was no plan B for him,” Dedmond said. “He had plan A and that was it. “Sometimes people took his passion as being hard to deal with. But just seeing that passion grow was huge.” So, too, have been some of the plays he has made for Baltimore. Ravens safety Keondre Jackson catches a football during training camp. Jackson has proven to be an asset on special teams. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) In four games, he has made six tackles on special teams. He was called for two penalties in a win over the Miami Dolphins, but the speed, physicality and verve with which he plays has been both vital and an injection of juice into the unit. It’s also a role Jackson has long embraced. At Illinois State, coaches on more than one occasion wanted to move him off special teams because he was too valuable as the team’s top defender. Jackson wasn’t having it. “He’ll do anything to get on the field,” Spack said. “Going into his senior year I remember talking to scouts and saying this guy smells and breathes of special teams. He’ll cover, block on returns, anything. He really likes it. “You could just tell he’d be good at it, too. He’s hard to block, can run, he’s athletic. He’s hard to stop in the open field because of that.” That was evident in Minnesota even after he recovered the fumble. Jackson celebrated with a backflip, something he’d done the week before after a big tackle against the Dolphins the week before. This time he stuck the landing a lot better, too. It’s no wonder then that it didn’t take long for Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who cut his teeth in the NFL as a longtime special teams coach, to see what Jackson was capable of. “He was bringing it,” Harbaugh said. “He was showing us a lot of progress, a lot of development, improvement and all those things. “He has some unique skills. He’s a big rangy, fast, explosive athlete who is certainly not afraid to throw it in there and mix it up, which he does at a high level. I think he’s a football player, and he proves that. [He has an] infectious personality and high energy. To see it show up on the field the way it has is a great thing to see, and he’s building a resume, but now the standard keeps going up for him.” As Dedmond texted Jackson the other day, though, “great job, but it’s just the beginning.” “This moment is not his best moment. It’s just the start to the best moment,” he said. “Anything’s possible.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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