Asa Rashaan Webster Jackson (born December 2, 1989) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

and current football coach. He was selected by the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

in the fifth round of the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

College career

Jackson was a four-year starter at

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

, more commonly referred to as Cal Poly. He finished his college career with 137 solo tackles, 199 total tackles, 8 interceptions for 307 yards (ranks first in school history) and 3 touchdowns (ties school record with David Fullerton), 40 pass deflections, 3 forced fumbles, and a single sack for -6 yards. He played in 43 games, and started in 42 of them. In July 2011, he was selected to the preseason

Buck Buchanan Award The Buck Buchanan Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding defensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football, and was first given in 1995 after the Walter Payton Award was ...

Watch List, among 20 candidates for the

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

's national Defensive Player of the Year honor, named by

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by the Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE ...

. During a 48–14 win over

South Dakota State South Dakota State University (SDSU or SD State) is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota, United States. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest university and is the second oldest continually operating universit ...

in 2011, Jackson scored on a rare length-of-the-field interception return for a touchdown; although he intercepted the pass about 2 yards deep into his own end zone, NCAA statistics technically record the full return as 100 yards, which equaled the school's deepest return in 43 years. Combined between punt and kickoff returns, Jackson also compiled 936 career return yards on special teams in college. In the final voting for the Buchanan Award announced in January 2012, Jackson received 28 balloting points, including two first-place votes, as

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

's Matt Evans won the award.

Statistics

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens (first stint)

In February 2012, Jackson was invited to the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, where he recorded the 12th-best shuttle time of any attendee (4.03 seconds) for any position in the class, and was timed at 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Jackson was selected in the fifth round of the

with the 169th overall pick. He is probably most known for returning a punt for a touchdown against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

during a preseason

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

game, and then started doing the famous

Gangnam Style "Gangnam Style" () is a K-pop song by South Korean singer Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term "Gangnam Style" is a n ...

dance. Although, the play was nullified by a holding penalty. Jackson was placed on injured reserve on December 16, 2014. Jackson was cut by the Baltimore Ravens on September 5, 2015.

Suspension

Jackson was suspended for four games without pay for violating the

policy on performance-enhancing substances on December 11, 2012, for using Adderall, a prescription drug, to treat his attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. On August 2, 2013, he again violated the PED policy and was suspended without pay for an additional eight games of the 2013 season. Jackson then completed the required paperwork to be authorized to take Adderall.

New York Giants

On September 6, 2015, the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

claimed Jackson off Waivers. He was waived just two days after signing with the Giants.

Baltimore Ravens (second stint)

On September 10, 2015, Jackson was signed to the Ravens' practice squad. On October 13, 2015, Jackson was re-signed to the active roster. He was waived/injured on November 17 due to an ankle injury. The next day, he was placed on the team's injured reserve and another day later, on November 19, 2015, he was waived from injured reserve.

Cincinnati Bengals

On November 30, 2015, Jackson was signed to the Bengals' practice squad.

Arizona Cardinals

On January 28, 2016,

Asa Jackson signed a futures contract with the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

. On August 29, 2016, Jackson was waived by the Cardinals.

Baltimore Ravens (third stint)

On October 17, 2016, Jackson was signed to the Ravens' practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 15, 2016. He was released by the Ravens on November 26, 2016, and was re-signed to the practice squad.

Detroit Lions

On December 6, 2016, Jackson was signed by the Lions off the Ravens' practice squad. He was placed on injured reserve on January 3, 2017, with an ankle injury.

San Francisco 49ers

On August 8, 2017, Jackson was signed by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. He was waived on September 2, 2017, and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 16, 2017. He was placed on injured reserve on October 10, 2017.

Coaching career

In 2019, Jackson started coaching as an assistant

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

s coach with

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

. In 2021, Jackson was the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

for his high school alma mater, Christian Brothers High School. In 2022, Jackson was hired as the

s coach for his alma mater, Cal Poly. In 2023, he was promoted to

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

s coach. In 2024, he was promoted to his third position group as he transitioned into the running backs coach position. He reverted back to cornerbacks coach before the start of the 2024 season.

References

External links

*
Cal Poly coach profile

Cal Poly player profile

Baltimore Ravens bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Asa 1989 births Living people American football cornerbacks Arizona Cardinals players Baltimore Ravens players Cal Poly Mustangs football coaches Cal Poly Mustangs football players Cincinnati Bengals players Detroit Lions players High school football coaches in California New York Giants players Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches San Francisco 49ers players Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from Sacramento, California People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder