The number 22 holds special significance for Florida football wide receiver Kahleil Jackson.
At a time when college football skill position players often trade in double-digit jersey numbers for single digits, Jackson intends to wear 22 for the remainder of his career with the Florida Gators.
It serves as a bond across generations. Jackson’s grandfather, Willie Jackson Sr., wore it as the first African American player to appear in a game for UF at wide receiver in its 1970 season opener against Duke.
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Jackson’s father, Willie Jackson Jr., wore the number in the 1990s as a star wideout in Steve Spurrier’s Fun N Gun offense. His uncle, Terry Jackson, wore 22 as a running back on UF’s first national championship team in 1996.
“Guys expect older guys, guys who have been in a program for a little while to have a single digit number, one of the cooler numbers, so they say,” Jackson said. “But to wear that number 22, part of my family legacy is really important to me, my grandad being the first African American football player here, and then my dad and my uncle as well playing here, wearing that number.
“For us, it’s definitely a blessing to be able to continue the legacy.”
A legacy that Jackson’s father, Willie Jackson Jr., says goes beyond making touchdown catches at The Swamp.
“I think of it being not so much of him picking the number as the number picking him,” Jackson Jr. said. “It’s a given, like a given type of thing, why would you not want to number 22 at the University of Florida. That’s the way we’ve always looked at it.”
Three generations of contributions to Florida football
Leonard George and Jackson Sr. were the first two African American football players to sign scholarships to Florida in December of 1968.
On the field, Jackson Sr. enjoyed a successful career with 75 catches for 1,170 yards and 8 TDs. But there were challenges along the way. Jackson Sr. often faced taunts and racial slurs in visiting stadiums in Alabama and Mississippi. Black students who staged a walk-out at UF in the early 1970s also pressured both Jackson and George to leave the team. But both stayed and earned their degrees from the school.
“I’m very appreciative that he paved the way and set it for a lot of other athletes,” Kahleil Jackson said.
By the time Willie Jackson Jr. got a scholarship to play wide receiver at UF in 1989, African American players were making impacts throughout the SEC. Jackson Jr. enjoyed his share of success in Spurrier’s wide-open attack, earning All-SEC and honorable mention All-American honors in 1992. He finished his UF career with 162 catches for 2,174 yards and 24 TDs before going on to a 10-year, NFL career.
“They were a really explosive team,” Kahleil Jackson said. “They won a lot of games. They kind of set the Gator standard for us and that’s something that I try to, you know, come in with that mentality and that standard every day in my own work.”
Kahleil Jackson’s path to Florida Gators football
Willie Jackson Jr. returned to Gainesville after his NFL career ended and is now the football coach at his high school alma mater, P.K. Yonge. Kahleil Jackson went to Hawthorne High School to play quarterback under another coach with UF ties, former Gator great tight end Cornelius Ingram, who won national titles at UF in 2006 and 2008.
Out of Hawthorne, Kahleil Jackson had a scholarship offer from Jackson State, but chose to walk on at UF instead. Jackson Jr. wanted his son to continue to play quarterback in college. But after redshirting in 2020 and appearing in just two games in 2021 under former coach Dan Mullen, Jackson found his niche at wide receiver under current coach Billy Napier.
“He’s a great athlete, extremely great athlete,” Jackson Jr. “So therefore, just to transition him to do receiver, that was easy, and then having me to be able to make any corrections or help him along the way just from a skillset, that’s why it was an easy transition.”
After making two catches for 43 yards in six games in 2022, Jackson broke through in 2023, finishing with 21 catches for 251 yards and 1 TD in 11 starts. Jackson showed a knack for making tough, acrobatic catches, including a diving, 45-yard reception along the sideline at South Carolina.
Jackson Jr. recalled watching the catch over and over again with Kahleil’s older brother.
“We were thinking to ourselves, how would he even put his body in that position to make that play,” Jackson Jr. said. “That was a heckuva catch.”
Jackson Jr. said the catch highlighted his son’s speed as well as his athletic ability,
“The fact that he’s so fast, is another reason why he was able to get to the ball,” Jackson Jr. said. “A person like myself, I would have had to reach out and stretch. It would have probably been over my head.
“For him to turn his body and be able to dive and catch that ball in the position his body was in, that was just a testament to himself and that was all him, why he did that. I don’t know many people he could have attempted to make that catch.”
Kahleil Jackson looking forward to 2024 Florida football season
With spring practice starting on March 7. Kahleil Jackson, a redshirt junior, said he’s looking forward to taking on more of a leadership role in the receiver room. With the departure of UF leading receiver Ricky Pearsall to the NFL draft, rising sophomore wide receivers Eugene Wilson III, Andy Jean and Aidan Mizell could contribute more in UF’s offense in 2024.
“We’ve got a lot of talent in the room and you know I’m just looking forward to seeing them thrive,” Jackson said. “I’ll definitely be on their case every day.”
Jackson Jr. is confident in his son’s ability to lead.
“Kahleil is so laid back, that everything he takes in stride,” Jackson Jr. said. “He doesn’t get too overwhelmed by good things, bad things, he’s going to always be the same pretty much …
“Without him being a big talker, he’s going to lead by example in terms of how hard he works. I think he’ll get a fast following because of how hard he’s able to work and get things done.”
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Gators football wide receiver Kahleil Jackson takes pride in wearing number 22
