Darion White

Jarrail Jackson, who sparked a turnaround in the Texas College program, has been named the top coach on the 2024 All-Texas Non-FBS Football Team, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine announced on Monday.

Earlier, Jackson, the former University of Oklahoma standout, was named the 2024 AFCA NAIA Region 5 Coach of the Year.

Jackson led TC to an 8-3 record, the most wins since the program was revived in 2003.

Area players earning spots on the team include: Tyler Junior College linebacker Darion White, SFA wide receiver Kylon Harris, Navarro wide receiver Tim Burns and offensive lineman Julio Madero, Trinity Valley offensive lineman Daniel Hernandez, and Kilgore College defensive back Jaylon Webb.

In his third year at the helm for Texas College, the Steers finished the season with eight wins, going undefeated at home (6-0).

Jackson played at Houston Yates High School before going to OU. He is noted for returning a punt for a touchdown in the 1996 Texas-OU game that sparked the Sooners to a 30-27 overtime victory over the Longhorns.

As a senior in Bob Stoops’ first year at Oklahoma and with Mike Leach as offensive coordinator, Jackson caught 44 passes for a team-leading 572 yards and a team-high six touchdowns.

Following his collegiate career, Jackson spent two years on the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad and played several arena football league seasons.

Jackson’s coaching career began in 2004 when he coached wide receivers at Chickasha High School in Oklahoma. In 2005, he was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Central Oklahoma. In 2006, he began a six-year stint at the Ivy League’s Dartmouth College. Jackson then spent three years at the University of Washington (Director of Player Relations), followed by stops at Davidson College (quarterbacks coach), Mississippi State (offensive analyst) and back to Central Oklahoma.

When Stoops took over the Dallas XFL team he hired Hal Mumme as offensive coordinator and Jackson as the receiver coach to work in the “Air Raid” system.

Jackson was named coach of the Steers on May 5, 2022.

The Steers capped off the season with a 28-7 win over Nelson University (formerly Southwestern Assemblies of God).

The Steers tied for third in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 5-3 mark, along with Langston. Texas Wesleyan won the league with an 8-0 record, followed by Ottawa-Arizona (7-1).

Texas College scored wins over Central Methodist (Missouri) (26-15), Westgate Christian (54-3), North American (25-21), Arkansas Baptist (49-22), Louisiana Christian (40-34 in overtime), Oklahoma Panhandle State (30-24), Wayland Baptist (38-36) and Nelson (28-7).

The TC program began in 1918 and in 1920 Texas College was one of the original “Super Six” to form the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Steers have won five SWAC football championships (1934, 1935, 1936, 1942, and 1944). Texas College won a national championship in 1935. The program was discontinued in the 1960s but was re-born in 2003.

Although classified as an independent club-level team, the Steers were 7-3 record in the first season back against official intercollegiate varsity programs, including a notable victory over NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M University.

TC joined the Central States League in 2004. The Steers won two CSFL conference championships (2005, 2006). In 2018, Texas College left the CSFL to join the Sooner Athletic Conference.