As some of the best college football players in the country show their skills to National Football League brass this week, one of the coaches teaching them how to do it the right way will be from Clark Atlanta University.

Dexter Jackson, the defensive backs coach for the Clark Atlanta Panthers football team, has been in Los Angeles this week, preparing secondary players for Saturday’s NFLPA Collegiate Bowl at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

The annual game showcases the nation’s top, NFL Draft-eligible players who not only get a chance to shine during the game at 4 p.m. EST on Saturday, Jan. 20.  They get to spend a week working out and learning from NFL coaches, former players, scouts and general managers as they get ready for April’s draft.

One of those former players will be Jackson, an NFL safety from 1999 to 2008. Jackson played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Arizona Cardinals and the Cincinnati Bengals.  He is best known for being named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXXVII after picking off two Rich Gannon passes in leading Tampa Bay to their Super Bowl win.   A team captain in Tampa Bay, Jackson finished his career with 17 interceptions and more than 400 tackles. 

“I was honored to be chosen,” Jackson said about coaching this week. “I’ll be working with some great guys – Hall of Famer Darrell Green from the Washington Redskins, Everson Walls of the Dallas Cowboys, LaVar Arrington, Adalius Thomas, Chris Dishman – so I will be surrounded by a bunch of great former players and coaches, with an opportunity to further grow the CAU brand.”

Jackson has been on the CAU staff of head coach Kevin Ramsey since 2015.  He has previously been an assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and for Alabama State University.

A certified counselor and case manager who is heavily involved in community activities, Jackson is a Florida State University graduate and was named to the Atlantic Coach Conference’s All-Academic Team. His hopes to become a head football coach someday.

“Yes, ultimately, but not right now,” Jackson said. “I just feel like whatever you do as an athlete, or as a coach, your job is to reach the pinnacle. And that’s my dream – to reach the pinnacle.  But first, I want to take the steps to learn correctly because when it does happen, I want to be prepared.”