Raising a Husker, 11/26: Joel Jackson
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Who's Joel Jackson?
Just a name in the 440-page Nebraska football media guide.
Just one of those Rudy walk-ons. One of those 5-foot-nothin', 100-and-nothin' dreamers.
Wait … be fair, now. He's 185 pounds. And he's 10 inches taller than 5 feet.
The kid was even a standout at Papillion-La Vista High School. Nebraska-Omaha coaches were on his doorstep the first day of the recruiting season his senior year.
And what did he tell those coaches?
Sorry, no Division II football for me. Nope. I gotta chase something.
His father wasn't surprised. Joe had been alerted of his son's plan when the boy was just 11 years old.
The plan was concocted on a bone-chilling day at Memorial Stadium. It was 1993. The Huskers had just wrapped up an undefeated regular season with a 21-7 win against Oklahoma.
"After the game, he looked down and looked at me and said, ‘Dad, I don't know if I'll ever be very good, but I'm going to be a Husker someday,'" Joe recalled.
Seven years after that game, when it came time for Joel to pick his school, he told his dad: "I don't want to look back 10 years from now or 15 years and say, ‘I have all the Kearney State College receiving records, but what could I have done if I had taken a chance at Nebraska?' "
So Joel went big. This is how it played out: He walked on at Nebraska as a defensive back. But after one season, he told the coaches he wanted to try wide receiver.
They told him he'd have to try out for the team again. He did. He made it.
But all the hours of sweat produced him only five game appearances. He is yet to play this season.
The highlight may have been the Texas A&M game last year — a televised game — where Joel got to play a couple snaps.
"We went crazy, yelling and screaming," Joe said of he and his wife, Barb. "But whether he got in or not, we were always very proud of him."
They have good reason. Besides his perseverance sticking with football, he's also been an honor roll student every semester. He'll graduate in May with a degree in mechanical engineering.
And while football hasn't lent him star status, it has gained him friendships that go far beyond the sidelines.
Friendships with guys such as Kiffin Wigert, Dan Burrow, Barrett Ruud, Philip Bland. Guys such as Jeremy Slechta, a fellow Papillion-La Vista grad who played two years ahead of him and encouraged him to walk on at Nebraska.
Little did Joel know then he would end up in Slechta's wedding.
"It seems like he's been at Nebraska an eternity, but at the same time, it's gone by in a flash," Joe said. "He's real tight with all the seniors. All the big shots are his buddies. I think they've really learned a lesson in life of how cutting-edge and how competitive things can be."
And while Ruud, Bland and Slechta found their names in the headlines on a regular basis, others such as Joel and Kiffin will only today get their 15 seconds of fame when their names are announced before they run out of the tunnel a final time.
Kiffin's dad Howard Wigert, who lives in Loveland, Colo., has made the journey to every Husker home game since his son's been on the team.
That's dedication, considering the 5-foot-9, 160-pound Kiffin had played in just four games at receiver coming into the season.
But this trip this week might be the toughest of them all because it's the last. What would it be like seeing his son emerge from the tunnel a final time?
"Pretty difficult," Howard said before his voice cracked from emotion. "I think back to all the time I supported him as an athlete in grade school. I've traveled all over the state of Wyoming (where Kiffin grew up) and some other states with his track athletics. ... Yeah, it's going to be tough to watch him for the last time."
But it will also be a proud moment. Joel and Kiffin will be among 21 seniors to play their last home game at Nebraska.
That perseverance deserves more than polite applause.
"For him to make it, that's quite a fraternity to be a part of," Joe said. "Good old dad is probably going to be a little depressed it's over, but also so proud of him that he hung in there."
So, who's Joel Jackson? Who's Kiffin Wigert?
Just a couple of somebodies ready for their next chase.
— Brian Christopherson
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