That's because Jackson tends to do things on the football field that people haven't seen before. Like, say, throwing a football 100 yards, the whole length of the field-a feat he managed way back in high school, years before he'd become a two-time NFL MVP.
"That's true," Jackson confirms. He and some teammates had been goofing around at girls' flag football practice, chucking the ball back and forth, and the hype from all the onlookers steadily increased as each pass from their gifted classmate's arm spiraled further and further through the air. Jackson was geeked too. "I'm like, Damn," he remembers. "I'm shocking myself! I didn't know I could throw it this far." Eventually, the group dared him to move back even further-to uncork one from the end zone and see how far it might go. Bingo.
"I cock back and throw it, I see it flying and I'm like, Damn! Goal line to goal line." Or the time that, as a freshman at the University of Louisville, he ran into local legend Rajon Rondo, the roadrunner NBA point guard-and promptly beat him in a foot race. "I ran past his ass!" Jackson hollers. "He was about to blow a gasket." "That kind of started the legend of Lamar," says Bobby Petrino, his college coach.
The legend of Lamar is, more or less, the story of a man consistently rewriting the rulebook. He shredded the college game, earning the Heisman Trophy as a baby-faced sophomore. He helped the Ravens fly into the playoffs as a rookie, and won his first MVP trophy the next year. Four years later, Jackson picked up his second MVP, becoming one of just 11 players in NFL history with more than one. All the while, he was revolutionizing the quarterback position-piling up historic rushing numbers and flinging touchdowns with unmatched style.
This story is from the October 2024 edition of GQ US.
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This story is from the October 2024 edition of GQ US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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