Former Viking QB Tarvaris Jackson Steps Into Coaching College

A name you don’t often hear anymore is Tarvaris Jackson. The former Minnesota Vikings quarterback is looking to a fresh start not on the field, but rather as a coach.

Jackson played with the Vikings from 2006-2010, then went onto play for the Seattle Seahawks twice and Buffalo Bills. He became a free agent in 2016 but was arrested in Florida for allegedly pulling a gun on his wife. The charges were eventually dropped but the damage to his career as a NFL player was done.

Jackson spoke to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press about those charges and how it ended his career early. “It hurt me a whole lot. It’s no doubt I would have got a call (from an NFL team) to at least get a chance to go compete for a backup job, but it didn’t happen because of that. Once they put my name up, of course that’s going to come up and (teams said), ‘We don’t want to deal with it.’ ’’

But there was a silver lining that has emerged for him throughout this ordeal. Jackson’s knowledge of football landed him a job as the quarterbacks’ coach and offensive coordinator in 2016 at Sidney Lanier High School and last season he was the quarterbacks coach at Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery, AL, his hometown.

Starting all over again he is now pursuing his master’s degree in sociology from Troy State all while coaching. Jackson said he is working on becoming a graduate assistant with his emphasis on quarterbacks at Alabama State.

“I do want to coach on a professional level,’’ Jackson said. “Of course, you have dreams. … In the back of my head, I do want to be a head coach one day, but right now I want to be the best quarterback, grad assistant coach that I can be … I want to just focus as much as I can on learning the coaching side.’’