EUGENE, Ore. -- After USC all-utility man Adoree’ Jackson anchored the Trojans' 4x100-meter relay team and picked up his second All-American honor of the weekend at the NCAA track & field championships (his first came in the long jump), it took a few of his teammates a while to think of what sport Jackson would actually be bad at.
“Golf,” sprinter Beejay Lee said.
“Swimming,” sprinter Just’N Thymes said.
“That’s only because he doesn’t shower,” Lee quipped.
It’s the kind of jabs that are thrown at an athlete who has the ability to start on the USC football team and the track team (Thymes joked Jackson would also be up there for basketball if USC football coach Steve Sarkisian would let him play) -- there’s more truth in them than joke.
But Jackson isn’t the only one. He was joined in the finals of the championships by a few others who are usually more well known for their exploits on the football field, not that track that goes around it.
TCU and All-Big 12 honorable mention wide receiver Kolby Listenbee finished seventh in the 100-meter dash (10.029 seconds) and anchored the Horned Frogs’ national runner-up 4x100 team, a relay that also included TCU cornerback Cameron Echols-Luper.
Alabama cornerback Tony Brown brought that SEC speed to the Crimson Tide’s 4x100-meter relay team, where he ran the lead leg. The Tide finished eighth, still earning Brown an All-American nod in the process.
Also, Miami DB Artie Burns finished 19th in the 110-meter hurdles and Florida State’s Jalen Ramsey won the ACC indoor and outdoor long jump and finished 14th at the NCAAs.
Though all four of the sprinters are considered football players who also run, it’s kind of scary to think what kind of damage they could do as an all-Power 5 4x100-meter relay team.
But the juggling is not without hurdles (though, Oregon wide receiver Devon Allen, who won the event last year, watched from the stands as he mends his ACL injury). Jackson and Echols-Luper both mentioned the difficulty in moving from indoor track to spring football and straight into outdoor track, all while staying in shape and managing their time well between their four seasons of athletics throughout the year.
“It was a hard transition to get back in shape,” Echols-Luper said. “Get back into jumping and running -- I had to work a lot harder.”
“You have all the football lifting and being all tense,” Jackson added. “In track you’ve got to be able to relax and be comfortable out there running. It’s a big difference out there coming from football weight to track weight.”
Most had to miss the first month to two months of track as they finished the spring football season.
That’s where Arizona offensive lineman Gerhard de Beer differs from these speedsters. As a track scholarship athlete, de Beer is actually a discus thrower who also plays football, so during the spring he only gets to work out with the football team on Wednesday with no contact or team drills.
“That’s really the time when you show how much you’ve learned and really developed as a player,” said de Beer, whose goal is to make the two-deep on the offensive line this fall. “It’s unfortunate that I miss it.”
The 2015 Pac-12 discus champion failed to make the national finals in the discus, leaving him with a sour taste in his mouth as he begins the transition from the NCAA track & field championships to the football field.
But, de Beer was grateful for the experience and with coaches allowing multi-talented athletes like de Beer to continue pursuing sports outside of football, there’s a greater chance to see more and more football players on the track in the next few years. These guys are proving that it’s not only possible to do both, it’s possible to excel in both.
“These guys push me a lot," Jackson said. "And I’m just thankful to have the teammates that I’ve got.”