Published: September 02, 2006 09:38 pm      

Breaking through barriers

Jeff’s Jennifer Jackson defies all stereotypes as first female football player

Jennifer Jackson does not play football to make a political statement.

She does not play the sport to promote Title IX.

She plays the sport because it is in her blood and most importantly — she loves it.

“When I was young, I wasn’t really a girly girl,” Jackson said. “My brothers used to play and I wanted to be like them.”

Her passion for the pigskin has enabled her to make history in her freshman year at Jeffersonville High School.

Jackson, 14, is the first female to ever strap on the pads for the Red Devils’ football program. In her first two games for the Jeff freshman team, she has started at wide receiver. She also plays defensive back and special teams.

Jackson, who will also play for the Jeff wrestling, girls’ basketball and softball squads this year, says some people are stunned that she is playing high school football.

“People are amazed that I’m playing. Most people didn’t think I would play my freshman year,” said Jackson, whose goal is to crack the varsity roster by her junior year.

Jackson showed her potential last Monday at Seymour. She made her first high school reception — a 30-yard catch on a fade pattern — in a 14-12 setback to the Owls.

“It felt great,” Jackson said about her first catch. “We have done pretty good. We’re just getting better and hitting harder.”

Red Devils freshman coach Danny Struck said her concentration to make the reception was excellent.

“She gets hit on the bottom and she’s got to concentrate on catching the ball,” Struck said. “She caught it after the hit and kept her eyes on it.”

Struck has liked what he has seen from the 5-foot-7 rookie so far and says she has room to grow.

“She’s mentally pretty tough. I know that because she wrestled for me for the past four years,” said Struck, who is also Jeff High’s head wrestling coach and coaches the Team Jeff Wrestling Club. “Right now, she’s doing great. As bodies mature and as people get older, time will tell. Her frame of mind is in the right place.”

Jackson began playing football when she was 5 years old, competing for a flag team. From third to sixth grade, she played in the tackle divisions of the Jeffersonville Clark County Youth Football League. Jackson then played two years at Parkview Middle School .

Jackson has been a skill-position player throughout her football career. In her JCCYFL tenure, she played quarterback and running back. Last year as an eighth-grader, she was a wideout for the Parkview eighth-grade team and played quarterback for the seventh-grade squad. One of her highlights as the seventh-grade signal-caller was three touchdown passes in a 50-0 victory over city rival River Valley.

“It felt great,” Jackson said about being Parkview’s quarterback. “I threw a 52-yard touchdown to Taylor Madison. It was pretty easy.”

Jackson is currently third on the quarterback depth chart for the Jeff freshman squad. She welcomes the opportunity to get under center.

“If I had a chance, I would,” Jackson said.

Despite having her own locker-room area to change into her football gear, Jackson is treated like any ordinary player by her teammates and coaches.

“They don’t treat me different,” she said. “Just because I’m a girl, they treat me as a guy on the team. I know they won’t take it easy on me.”

Struck recalls one instance in practice when one of Jackson’s teammates, who played at River Valley, questioned whether to tackle her.

“One time a River Valley kid said, ‘You want us to hit her. She’s a girl.’ One time that was said and I’ve never heard a word since,” Struck said. “The Parkview kids never have questioned her.”

Jackson has caught some opposing players off guard when she goes head-to-head with them.

“They’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s a girl.’ They are all surprised,” Jackson said. “They probably think just because I’m a girl, I don’t play good.”

But Jackson does not back down from any opponent and shows it by applying hits to her foes.

“People say on my team that I hit hard. I’m just like another guy on the team,” she said. “It’s just part of the game.”