Robert Lanier Jackson (born February 16, 1940) is an American former football coach and college player who was a professional assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons, including three as an offensive coordinator. In his NFL tenure, Jackson coached five Pro Bowl running backs, including at least one in three of his five stops where he has tutored the running backs. The list consists of Pro Football Hall of Fame player Marshall Faulk (St. Louis Rams 2000–02), Stephen Davis (Washington Redskins 1999), Terry Allen (Washington Redskins 1996), Brian Mitchell (Washington Redskins, 1995), and Marion Butts (San Diego Chargers, 1990–91). Early life Jackson was born and raised on a small rural farm in Forsyth, Georgia. He was raised by his parents Anice Rocquemore and Roy Henry Jackson, who was a veteran of World War I that was wounded in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Jackson's first experience with football would shape his life. In the 7th Grade he tried out for football and after the 3rd day, the football coach, in front of the team, stripped Jackson's uniform off him on the practice field and gave it to a bigger kid. Jackson was humiliated and worked on his running skills and tried out again in the 9th Grade and soon became the starting running back. Jackson attended and played high school football at Mary Persons High School. He played college football at South Georgia College in 1958, under legendary Florida State University head coach Bobby Bowden and assistant coach Vince Gibson. In 1959, Bowden was offered the head football coaching job at Samford (then called Howard College) and Jackson was one of 15 players that followed Bowden to Birmingham, Alabama. In 1960, he was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa at Samford. From 1959 to 1962, Jackson was starter on all sides of the Howard football team and was one of the last of the 60 Minute Men (football players who played the entire 60 minutes of the football game). On offense, he was the running back, on the defense as a defensive back, and was on the punt and kickoff return teams. While at Howard, Jackson was a two-time small college All-American running back. In numerous interviews, Bowden has said that Jackson was the best all around player that he ever coached. From 1959 to 1962, Jackson had 287 rushing attempts for 2,084 yards, 27 touchdowns and 7.3 yards