Jarious K. Jackson (born May 3, 1977) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He has also been a coach for the Toronto Argonauts, Saskatchewan Roughriders, and BC Lions and served as the interim head coach for the Elks in 2024. Jackson played professionally as a quarterback in the CFL for eight seasons with the Lions and one year with the Argonauts where he won three Grey Cup championships in 2006, 2011, and 2012. He has also been a member of the Denver Broncos (NFL), to whom he was drafted 214th overall in the 2000 NFL draft, and the Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe). Jackson played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Jarious Jackson
Edmonton Elks
Jackson with the Edmonton Elks in 2023
Born: (1977-05-03) May 3, 1977 (age 47)
Tupelo, Mississippi, U.S.
Career information
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)Offensive coordinator
Quarterbacks coach
Height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight232 lb (105 kg)
CollegeNotre Dame
High schoolTupelo (MS)
NFL draft2000, round: 7, pick: 214
Drafted byDenver Broncos
HandRight
Career history
As coach
2013BC Lions (QB coach)
20142015Edmonton Eskimos (QB coach/Passing Game Coordinator/Player Development)
20162017Saskatchewan Roughriders (QB coach/Passing Game Coordinator/Player Development)
20182019BC Lions (Offensive coordinator/QB coach)
20202021Toronto Argonauts (Offensive coordinator/QB coach)
20222023Edmonton Elks (Passing Game Coordinator/QB coach)
2023–presentEdmonton Elks (Offensive Coordinator/QB coach)
2024Edmonton Elks (Head coach - Interim)
As player
2000Denver Broncos
2001Barcelona Dragons
2001–2003Denver Broncos
20042011BC Lions
2012Toronto Argonauts
Career highlights and awards
Career stats

High school

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Jackson attended Tupelo High School in Tupelo, Mississippi, and was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he won SuperPrep All-America honors.[1]

College career

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Jackson attended the University of Notre Dame, where he was a two-year starter and set school single-season records for passing yards (2,753), completions (184), and attempts (316) as a senior during the 1999 season. In the process, he broke the yardage mark held by the legendary Joe Theismann. (All of Jackson's records were subsequently broken by Brady Quinn.) Jackson also threw for 17 touchdowns during his senior year, ranking third behind Ron Powlus and Rick Mirer. He was second on the team in rushing with 140 carries for 464 yards (3.3 avg) and 7 scores.[1]

College Statistics

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Season GP Passing Rushing
Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD
1996 6 10 15 66.7 181 12.1 3 0 234.0 11 16 1.5 0
1997 7 8 17 44.1 146 8.6 1 1 126.8 8 36 4.5 3
1998 11 104 188 55.3 1,740 9.3 13 6 149.5 113 441 3.9 3
1999 12 184 316 58.2 2,753 8.7 17 14 140.3 140 464 3.3 7
Career 36 306 536 57.1 4,820 9.0 34 21 145.7 272 957 3.5 13

Professional career

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Denver Broncos

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Jackson was drafted in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL draft, 214th overall, by the Denver Broncos.[2] Pro scouts projected that Jackson could develop into a solid NFL quarterback if placed into the right system. However, after four seasons as a Bronco backup, he saw action in only five games, completing 11 of 22 passes for 114 yards.[1]

Barcelona Dragons

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Jackson also spent one season (2001) in Barcelona, as part of NFL Europe, where he competed in the 2001 World Bowl.[1]

 
Jackson in 2009.

BC Lions

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In 2004, Jackson signed onto the practice squad of the BC Lions in the CFL. He began 2005 on the practice squad as the fourth-string quarterback, but was elevated to the active roster when CFL superstars Dave Dickenson and Casey Printers went down with injuries, followed by third-stringer Buck Pierce.[1] He saw action in 2 games, had 3 completions out of 6 attempts for a total of 30 yards and rushed four times for a total of 35 yards.[3]

At the beginning of 2006 season, Jackson began as the third-string quarterback, behind Dickenson and Buck Pierce. However, with alternating injuries to Dickenson and Pierce, he made appearances in all but the final regular season game.[1] 2007 proved, however, to be Jackson's break-out season as he became starting quarterback when Dickenson and Pierce were both out with injuries.[4] For the 11 games Jackson was starting, he had a record of 9–2, threw for 2,553 yards, 18 touchdowns on 167 completions and 10 interceptions. On February 4, 2008, Jackson re-signed with the Lions 12 days before qualifying as a free-agent.[5] At the beginning of the 2008 season, he was the back-up to Buck Pierce, but started some games. His only pass in the Western semi-final was a touchdown toss to Geroy Simon.

He was released by the Lions on February 1, 2012.[6]

Toronto Argonauts

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On February 22, 2012, it was announced that Jackson had signed a two-year contract with the Toronto Argonauts.[7] He dressed in all 18 games, starting in four, and was a member of the 100th Grey Cup winning team while throwing a touchdown pass in that game. On February 4, 2013, he was released by the Toronto Argonauts.[8]

Shortly after his release from the Argonauts, it was announced that Jackson would sign a one-day contract with the BC Lions so that he could retire as a Lion.[9]

Career statistics

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  Passing   Rushing
Year Team Games Att Comp Pct Yards TD Int Rating Att Yards Avg Long TD Fumb
2000 DEN 2 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 39.6 1 −1 −1.0 −1 0 0
2001 BAR 10 223 125 56.1 1,544 13 6 85.9 43 287 6.7 21 2
2001 DEN 1 12 7 58.3 73 0 0 76.0 5 7 1.4 0 2
2002 DEN 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2003 DEN 1 9 4 44.4 41 0 1 18.5 1 9 9.0 9 0 0
2004 BC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2005 BC 8 6 3 50.0 60 0 0 64.6 4 35 8.8 21 0 0
2006 BC 18 79 37 46.8 477 3 2 68.4 46 137 3.0 15 1 0
2007 BC 18 304 167 54.9 2,553 18 10 88.9 49 265 5.4 18 3 9
2008 BC 18 288 158 54.9 2,164 17 10 84.3 63 362 5.7 25 2 4
2009 BC 10 155 90 58.1 1,252 12 8 88.4 32 143 4.5 14 2 5
2010 BC 18 48 26 54.2 293 0 3 46.6 11 26 2.4 7 0 0
2011 BC 18 39 18 46.2 263 1 2 55.8 22 80 3.6 17 0 2
2012 TOR 18 135 72 53.3 846 4 3 73.3 42 122 2.9 15 3 0
CFL totals 126 1,054 571 54.2 7,878 55 38 80.8 269 1,170 4.3 25 11 20

Coaching career

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Immediately upon retiring it was announced that Jackson would then begin his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach for the Lions.[10] After coaching in BC for one year (2013) he spent the next couple seasons as the quarterbacks coach for both the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders before being named the BC Lions' Offensive Coordinator for the 2018 season.[11] He retained the position for the 2019 BC Lions season, but after a disappointing year, his contract was not renewed for 2020.

On February 6, 2020, it was announced that Jackson was joining the Toronto Argonauts as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.[12] The 2020 CFL season was cancelled, but Jackson coached for the Argonauts in 2021 where the team finished in first place in the East Division.

On January 4, 2022, Jackson formally joined the Edmonton Elks as the team's pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.[13] He retained the same role to begin the 2023 season, but after an 0–8 start to the season, Jackson was promoted to offensive coordinator on July 31, 2023, replacing Stephen McAdoo.[14]

On July 15, 2024, following the dismissal of head coach, Chris Jones, Jackson was named interim head coach while retaining his play-calling duties.[15] He posted a 7–6 record in the remaining 13 regular season games, but the Elks failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. He was not selected as the head coach for the 2025 season following the hire of Mark Kilam.[16]

CFL coaching record

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Team Year Regular season Postseason
Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Result
EDM 2024 7 6 0 .538 4th in West Division Did Not Qualify
Total 7 6 0 .538 0 West Division
Championships
0 Grey Cups

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Jarious Jackson #7". Players. cfl.ca.
  2. ^ "2000 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  3. ^ "Jarious Jackson 2005 Statistics". cfl.ca.
  4. ^ "Lions QB Buck Pierce says he must learn to avoid some hits to stay healthy". The Canadian Press. January 10, 2008.[dead link]
  5. ^ "Lions and Jarious Jackson agree to terms". BC Lions Football Club. February 4, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012.
  6. ^ Lions release veteran quarterback Jackson Archived July 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Argonauts take action and sign QB Jackson Archived October 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Boatmen release quarterback Jarious Jackson Archived September 27, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Ex-Argo Jarious Jackson retires a Lion and becomes team's new QBs coach". Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  10. ^ Jackson released by Argos; joins Lions coaching staff Archived September 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Lions tab former QB Jackson to fix troubled offence - Article - TSN". TSN. December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  12. ^ "Argos announce 2020 coaching staff". Toronto Argonauts. February 6, 2020.
  13. ^ "Elks announce key offensive pieces of 2022 coaching staff". Edmonton Elks. January 4, 2022.
  14. ^ "Elks promote Jarious Jackson to offensive coordinator". Canadian Football League. July 31, 2023.
  15. ^ "General manager and head coach Chris Jones relieved of his duties". Edmonton Elks. July 15, 2024.
  16. ^ "Elks officially name Mark Kilam head coach". Canadian Football League. December 2, 2024.
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