tarvaris jackson

Tarvaris Jackson
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Jump to: navigation, search
Tarvaris Jackson Minnesota Vikings ― No. 7
Quarterback
Date of Birth: April 21, 1983 (1983-04-21) (age 24)
Place of Birth: Montgomery, Alabama
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight: 232 lb (105 kg)
National Football League Debut
2006 for the Minnesota Vikings
Career Highlights and Awards
No notable achievements

Career History
College: Alabama State & Arkansas
NFL Draft: 2006 / Round: 2 / Pick: 64
Teams:

Minnesota Vikings (2006�present)

Stats at NFL.com
Tarvaris Jackson (born April 21, 1983 in Montgomery, Alabama) is the current starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL)[1]. He was the first Alabama State University quarterback drafted into the NFL since Ricky Jones in 1992. Tarvaris Jackson's name is commonly misspelled as 'Tavaris' or 'Tavarius'. Jackson's current number is 7.

Contents
1 College career
2 NFL career
2.1 2006 NFL Draft
2.2 2006 rookie season
3 Career statistics
3.1 College
3.2 NFL
4 References
5 External links
Tarvaris Jackson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Tarvaris Jackson Minnesota Vikings ― No. 7
Quarterback
Date of Birth: April 21, 1983 (1983-04-21) (age 24)
Place of Birth: Montgomery, Alabama
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight: 232 lb (105 kg)
National Football League Debut
2006 for the Minnesota Vikings
Career Highlights and Awards
No notable achievements

Career History
College: Alabama State & Arkansas
NFL Draft: 2006 / Round: 2 / Pick: 64
Teams:

Minnesota Vikings (2006�present)

Stats at NFL.com
Tarvaris Jackson (born April 21, 1983 in Montgomery, Alabama) is the current starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL)[1]. He was the first Alabama State University quarterback drafted into the NFL since Ricky Jones in 1992. Tarvaris Jackson's name is commonly misspelled as 'Tavaris' or 'Tavarius'. Jackson's current number is 7.

Contents
1 College career
2 NFL career
2.1 2006 NFL Draft
2.2 2006 rookie season
3 Career statistics
3.1 College
3.2 NFL
4 References
5 External links



[edit] College career
Jackson played in the more competitive Division I-A during the 2001 season and part of 2002 while attending the University of Arkansas. A shoulder injury kept him from starting full time and when it was decided Matt Jones would start at quarterback instead of him, he transferred to Alabama State University, a historically black Division I-AA institution in his hometown of Montgomery. During Jackson's senior year, he amassed 2,655 yards, 25 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions with a 61.1% completion rate. Jackson has been given several nicknames such as T-Jack. In three seasons at Alabama State, Jackson completed 537 of 985 attempts for 7,838 yards, with 67 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions.[2]


[edit] NFL career

[edit] 2006 NFL Draft
The Vikings scouting and personnel had reportedly been watching him closely in secret over his senior season, particularly liking his performance in the East-West Shrine Game. They were also impressed by his workout at the scouting combine (among the top-5 quarterbacks in ball speed and 40 yard dash). Several NFL teams including the Vikings had arranged secret workouts with him too. Jackson was selected with the last pick in the 2nd round (64th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft, while he was projected to go much later in the 4th-7th rounds. The Vikings traded two 3rd round picks to get the 2nd round pick with which they drafted Jackson, fearing he may get picked sooner than anticipated. Jackson's early selection caused some surprise as he was the 5th quarterback taken and the 1st Division I-AA player selected (the last I-AA quarterback drafted was Spergon Wynn in 2000). Even Jackson was surprised by the pick saying, "I was more focused on [getting drafted in] the third round and even that was stretching it".[3] Most pre-draft publications didn't even have him listed as one of the top 10 eligible quarterbacks, while he was the 5th selected. On 26 July 2006, Jackson signed a four year deal with Minnesota, including a $1 million signing bonus.[4]

Vikings coach Brad Childress was quoted days before the draft as saying he was interested in finding a "developmental guy", a "diamond in the rough" quarterback of the future, raw talent he could teach a system.[5] Both new coach Childress and Vikings former quarterback Brad Johnson have had a lot of success developing quarterbacks in the past - A.J. Feeley and Donovan McNabb owe a lot of their success to Childress, and Chris Simms says Brad Johnson was the best tutor he's ever had. Jackson's quarterback coach at Alabama State, Reggie Barlow, played wide receiver with Brad Johnson at Tampa Bay so Tarvaris had been looking forward to learning from him. Other Vikings coaches have experience developing quarterbacks too. Vikings Quarterbacks Coach Kevin Rogers had developed Donovan McNabb in college. And Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell had spent time as Quarterbacks Coach to Brett Favre too. The use of two 3rd round picks showed how much they felt Tarvaris was the guy they wanted to use their skills to develop.

The day after the draft Vikings coach Childress was quoted by the St. Paul Pioneer Press as saying: "I think you judge quarterbacks a little bit differently...When you see what you want at the quarterback position, you need to go get it. And that's exactly what I see with Tarvaris Jackson is a guy that's a piece of clay, that has all the skills in terms of, No. 1, what's he look like throwing the football?...He's got a great throwing motion; he's athletic. He has all those things that we're looking for, and he's wired right. That's important for a quarterback. I think he's a flatline guy. I think he's a sponge. You're talking about a guy that never had a coach there as a quarterback coach. So what can he do with coaching?"[6] Jackson's agent, Joel Segal, said: "After the draft, there were two clubs that expressed disappointment and were mad they didn't get him. They were planning to take (Jackson) very high in the third round, and were lamenting the fact that the Vikings beat them".

Pre-draft measureables
Wt 40y 20ss 3-cone Vert BP Wonderlic
226 lb* 4.72s* 4.38s* 7.40s* 31 1/2"* 22*[7] X
(* represents NFL Combine)
[edit] 2006 rookie season
Jackson's 2006 pre-season passer rating was 106.1, 15th in the league out of 110 quarterbacks who performed. Only one quarterback from his draft class (Jay Cutler) did better. He also showed great scrambling skills averaging 11.3 yards in rushing (the only Viking other than Brad Johnson to average more than 3.3 yards in rushing). ESPN analyst Mike Tirico referred to Jackson as a right handed Michael Vick. His pre-season performance was enough to surpass 2nd and 3rd string QBs Mr.McMahon and J.T. O'Sullivan on the depth chart. After the pre-season, McMahon and O'Sullivan were cut from the team and Brooks Bollinger was brought in, who Jackson then competed against for the number two spot.

On 25 September 2006, Tarvaris Jackson had minor knee surgery to repair the meniscus in his knee. He returned to limited practice after two weeks, and then came back to play his first NFL game with the Minnesota Vikings in week 13 against the Chicago Bears[1] in the fourth quarter after Johnson was benched for throwing four interceptions and backup QB Brooks Bollinger was injured. Jackson completed three of his four passes before fumbling the ball to Chicago and the Bears then ran the clock out. Following this game when Jackson was asked if he was ready to take over as starter he said "Not really." and "We still have a chance to make the playoffs, so we're still trying to do that. So it's obvious that Brad is still our quarterback so we can stay on that."[8]

Two weeks later in week 15 Johnson started the game but was benched in the fourth quarter when the Vikings had been underperforming the entire game losing with a score of 7 to 26 at the time Jackson went in late in the third quarter against the New York Jets. Although Johnson hadn't thrown an interception that game and had a respectable passer rating of 94.2 in the game, the Minnesota fans jeered Johnson throughout the game and chanted "We want Jackson!" at numerous points because Johnson had only thrown 9 touchdowns all season (in 14 games) and had a career worst 71.9 passer rating throughout the season. Jackson received a standing ovation as he trotted out onto the field. A landmark in Jackson's career happened that game when Jackson completed his first touchdown pass with a pass to Mewelde Moore. Tarvaris threw 177 yards, a TD, and ran three times for 20 yards while the Jets protected their large lead. He also threw an interception in the red zone.

Jackson was named the starting quarterback for Minnesota in their week 16 game against the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings lost with a score of 7 to 9 with the only Vikings score coming from an interception for a touchdown by defensive back Fred Smoot. The offense set a franchise low record of only three first downs the whole game, didn't get close enough to the end zone to even attempt a field goal, and only had 27 passing yards gained against the NFL's 19th ranked defense (ranked 26th against the pass). Jackson had a passer rating of 36.5, had a 50% completion rate (10-20 for 50 yards), 1 interception, and a fumble. Though, he had made a few nice throws that had been called back on penalties, or else dropped by Wide Receiver Troy Williamson. Despite the performance's lack of "merit" (according to Childress), number 7 out of Alabama State remained the starter for the remainder of the regular season.

[edit] Career statistics
[edit] College
Year Team Passing Rushing
Att Comp Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Att Yds Avg TD
2001 Ark 9 3 33.3 53 5.89 0 1 7 14 2.0 0
2002 Ark 39 14 35.9 143 3.67 1 2 14 -16 -1.1 0
2003 ASU 261 135 51.7 1,984 7.60 18 9 92 454 4.9 5
2004 ASU 350 183 52.3 2,562 7.32 20 9 67 215 3.2 3
2005 ASU 296 181 61.1 2,655 8.97 25 5 95 271 2.9 3
Total 955 516 54 7,397 6.69 64 26 275 938 2.38 11

[edit] NFL
Year Team G GS Passing Rushing Sacked Fumbles
Att Comp Pct Yds Y/A Y/G TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD Sack YdsL Fum FumL
2006 MIN 4 2 81 47 58.1 475 5.86 118.8 2 4 62.5 15 77 5.1 1 8 37 4 1
Total 4 2 81 47 58.1 475 5.86 118.8 2 4 62.5 15 77 5.1 1 8 37 4 1

[edit] References
^ Player Bio - Tarvaris Jackson. Vikings.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-09.
^ Pasquarelli, Len (2007-05-18). Jackson preparing to lead Vikings. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-20.
^ Jackson's Reaction. Jackson's reaction after getting drafted.
^ CBC.CA - "Vikings sign quarterback Tarvaris Jackson to four-year contract". Originally published on 26 July 2006. Retrieved on 16 April 2007.
^ Childress Quotes before draft. Childress quotes before the draft.
^ Childress Quotes after draft.

^ Benoit, Andy. Vikings Staring at a Quarterback Controversy. The Sports Network. Retrieved on 2007-05-09.
[edit] External links
NFL.com Draft Prospect Profile of Tarvaris Jackson Scouting report of Jackson written up by JR Scouting LLC on NFL.com
Preceded by
Brad Johnson Minnesota Vikings Starting Quarterbacks
2006- Succeeded by
Incumbent




v ? d ? eCurrent starting quarterbacks in the National Football League (as of Week 7 of the 2007 NFL season)
American Football Conference
East North South West
Edwards (Buffalo) Boller (Baltimore) Schaub (Houston) Cutler (Denver)
Lemon (Miami) Palmer (Cincinnati) P. Manning (Indianapolis) Huard (Kansas City)
Brady (New England) Anderson (Cleveland) Garrard (Jacksonville) Culpepper (Oakland)
Pennington (NY Jets) Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh) Collins (Tennessee) Rivers (San Diego)
National Football Conference
East North South West
Romo (Dallas) Griese (Chicago) Leftwich (Atlanta) Warner (Arizona)
E. Manning (NY Giants) Kitna (Detroit) Testaverde (Carolina) Bulger (St. Louis)
McNabb (Philadelphia) Favre (Green Bay) Brees (New Orleans) Dilfer (San Francisco)
Campbell (Washington) Jackson (Minnesota) Garcia (Tampa Bay) Hasselbeck (Seattle)

Categories: 1983 births | People from Montgomery, Alabama | Alabama State Hornets football players | American football quarterbacks | African American football players | Arkansas Razorbacks football players | Living people | Minnesota Vikings players

Tarvaris Jackson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Tarvaris Jackson Minnesota Vikings ― No. 7
Quarterback
Date of Birth: April 21, 1983 (1983-04-21) (age 24)
Place of Birth: Montgomery, Alabama
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight: 232 lb (105 kg)
National Football League Debut
2006 for the Minnesota Vikings
Career Highlights and Awards
No notable achievements

Career History
College: Alabama State & Arkansas
NFL Draft: 2006 / Round: 2 / Pick: 64
Teams:

Minnesota Vikings (2006�present)

Stats at NFL.com
Tarvaris Jackson (born April 21, 1983 in Montgomery, Alabama) is the current starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL)[1]. He was the first Alabama State University quarterback drafted into the NFL since Ricky Jones in 1992. Tarvaris Jackson's name is commonly misspelled as 'Tavaris' or 'Tavarius'. Jackson's current number is 7.

Contents
1 College career
2 NFL career
2.1 2006 NFL Draft
2.2 2006 rookie season
3 Career statistics
3.1 College
3.2 NFL
4 References
5 External links



[edit] College career
Jackson played in the more competitive Division I-A during the 2001 season and part of 2002 while attending the University of Arkansas. A shoulder injury kept him from starting full time and when it was decided Matt Jones would start at quarterback instead of him, he transferred to Alabama State University, a historically black Division I-AA institution in his hometown of Montgomery. During Jackson's senior year, he amassed 2,655 yards, 25 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions with a 61.1% completion rate. Jackson has been given several nicknames such as T-Jack. In three seasons at Alabama State, Jackson completed 537 of 985 attempts for 7,838 yards, with 67 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions.[2]


[edit] NFL career

[edit] 2006 NFL Draft
The Vikings scouting and personnel had reportedly been watching him closely in secret over his senior season, particularly liking his performance in the East-West Shrine Game. They were also impressed by his workout at the scouting combine (among the top-5 quarterbacks in ball speed and 40 yard dash). Several NFL teams including the Vikings had arranged secret workouts with him too. Jackson was selected with the last pick in the 2nd round (64th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft, while he was projected to go much later in the 4th-7th rounds. The Vikings traded two 3rd round picks to get the 2nd round pick with which they drafted Jackson, fearing he may get picked sooner than anticipated. Jackson's early selection caused some surprise as he was the 5th quarterback taken and the 1st Division I-AA player selected (the last I-AA quarterback drafted was Spergon Wynn in 2000). Even Jackson was surprised by the pick saying, "I was more focused on [getting drafted in] the third round and even that was stretching it".[3] Most pre-draft publications didn't even have him listed as one of the top 10 eligible quarterbacks, while he was the 5th selected. On 26 July 2006, Jackson signed a four year deal with Minnesota, including a $1 million signing bonus.[4]

Vikings coach Brad Childress was quoted days before the draft as saying he was interested in finding a "developmental guy", a "diamond in the rough" quarterback of the future, raw talent he could teach a system.[5] Both new coach Childress and Vikings former quarterback Brad Johnson have had a lot of success developing quarterbacks in the past - A.J. Feeley and Donovan McNabb owe a lot of their success to Childress, and Chris Simms says Brad Johnson was the best tutor he's ever had. Jackson's quarterback coach at Alabama State, Reggie Barlow, played wide receiver with Brad Johnson at Tampa Bay so Tarvaris had been looking forward to learning from him. Other Vikings coaches have experience developing quarterbacks too. Vikings Quarterbacks Coach Kevin Rogers had developed Donovan McNabb in college. And Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell had spent time as Quarterbacks Coach to Brett Favre too. The use of two 3rd round picks showed how much they felt Tarvaris was the guy they wanted to use their skills to develop.

The day after the draft Vikings coach Childress was quoted by the St. Paul Pioneer Press as saying: "I think you judge quarterbacks a little bit differently...When you see what you want at the quarterback position, you need to go get it. And that's exactly what I see with Tarvaris Jackson is a guy that's a piece of clay, that has all the skills in terms of, No. 1, what's he look like throwing the football?...He's got a great throwing motion; he's athletic. He has all those things that we're looking for, and he's wired right. That's important for a quarterback. I think he's a flatline guy. I think he's a sponge. You're talking about a guy that never had a coach there as a quarterback coach. So what can he do with coaching?"[6] Jackson's agent, Joel Segal, said: "After the draft, there were two clubs that expressed disappointment and were mad they didn't get him. They were planning to take (Jackson) very high in the third round, and were lamenting the fact that the Vikings beat them".

Pre-draft measureables
Wt 40y 20ss 3-cone Vert BP Wonderlic
226 lb* 4.72s* 4.38s* 7.40s* 31 1/2"* 22*[7] X
(* represents NFL Combine)
[edit] 2006 rookie season
Jackson's 2006 pre-season passer rating was 106.1, 15th in the league out of 110 quarterbacks who performed. Only one quarterback from his draft class (Jay Cutler) did better. He also showed great scrambling skills averaging 11.3 yards in rushing (the only Viking other than Brad Johnson to average more than 3.3 yards in rushing). ESPN analyst Mike Tirico referred to Jackson as a right handed Michael Vick. His pre-season performance was enough to surpass 2nd and 3rd string QBs Mr.McMahon and J.T. O'Sullivan on the depth chart. After the pre-season, McMahon and O'Sullivan were cut from the team and Brooks Bollinger was brought in, who Jackson then competed against for the number two spot.

On 25 September 2006, Tarvaris Jackson had minor knee surgery to repair the meniscus in his knee. He returned to limited practice after two weeks, and then came back to play his first NFL game with the Minnesota Vikings in week 13 against the Chicago Bears[1] in the fourth quarter after Johnson was benched for throwing four interceptions and backup QB Brooks Bollinger was injured. Jackson completed three of his four passes before fumbling the ball to Chicago and the Bears then ran the clock out. Following this game when Jackson was asked if he was ready to take over as starter he said "Not really." and "We still have a chance to make the playoffs, so we're still trying to do that. So it's obvious that Brad is still our quarterback so we can stay on that."[8]

Two weeks later in week 15 Johnson started the game but was benched in the fourth quarter when the Vikings had been underperforming the entire game losing with a score of 7 to 26 at the time Jackson went in late in the third quarter against the New York Jets. Although Johnson hadn't thrown an interception that game and had a respectable passer rating of 94.2 in the game, the Minnesota fans jeered Johnson throughout the game and chanted "We want Jackson!" at numerous points because Johnson had only thrown 9 touchdowns all season (in 14 games) and had a career worst 71.9 passer rating throughout the season. Jackson received a standing ovation as he trotted out onto the field. A landmark in Jackson's career happened that game when Jackson completed his first touchdown pass with a pass to Mewelde Moore. Tarvaris threw 177 yards, a TD, and ran three times for 20 yards while the Jets protected their large lead. He also threw an interception in the red zone.

Jackson was named the starting quarterback for Minnesota in their week 16 game against the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings lost with a score of 7 to 9 with the only Vikings score coming from an interception for a touchdown by defensive back Fred Smoot. The offense set a franchise low record of only three first downs the whole game, didn't get close enough to the end zone to even attempt a field goal, and only had 27 passing yards gained against the NFL's 19th ranked defense (ranked 26th against the pass). Jackson had a passer rating of 36.5, had a 50% completion rate (10-20 for 50 yards), 1 interception, and a fumble. Though, he had made a few nice throws that had been called back on penalties, or else dropped by Wide Receiver Troy Williamson. Despite the performance's lack of "merit" (according to Childress), number 7 out of Alabama State remained the starter for the remainder of the regular season.

[edit] Career statistics
[edit] College
Year Team Passing Rushing
Att Comp Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Att Yds Avg TD
2001 Ark 9 3 33.3 53 5.89 0 1 7 14 2.0 0
2002 Ark 39 14 35.9 143 3.67 1 2 14 -16 -1.1 0
2003 ASU 261 135 51.7 1,984 7.60 18 9 92 454 4.9 5
2004 ASU 350 183 52.3 2,562 7.32 20 9 67 215 3.2 3
2005 ASU 296 181 61.1 2,655 8.97 25 5 95 271 2.9 3
Total 955 516 54 7,397 6.69 64 26 275 938 2.38 11

[edit] NFL
Year Team G GS Passing Rushing Sacked Fumbles
Att Comp Pct Yds Y/A Y/G TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD Sack YdsL Fum FumL
2006 MIN 4 2 81 47 58.1 475 5.86 118.8 2 4 62.5 15 77 5.1 1 8 37 4 1
Total 4 2 81 47 58.1 475 5.86 118.8 2 4 62.5 15 77 5.1 1 8 37 4 1

[edit] References
^ Player Bio - Tarvaris Jackson. Vikings.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-09.
^ Pasquarelli, Len (2007-05-18). Jackson preparing to lead Vikings. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-20.
^ Jackson's Reaction. Jackson's reaction after getting drafted.
^ CBC.CA - "Vikings sign quarterback Tarvaris Jackson to four-year contract". Originally published on 26 July 2006. Retrieved on 16 April 2007.
^ Childress Quotes before draft. Childress quotes before the draft.
^ Childress Quotes after draft.

^ Benoit, Andy. Vikings Staring at a Quarterback Controversy. The Sports Network. Retrieved on 2007-05-09.
[edit] External links
NFL.com Draft Prospect Profile of Tarvaris Jackson Scouting report of Jackson written up by JR Scouting LLC on NFL.com
Preceded by
Brad Johnson Minnesota Vikings Starting Quarterbacks
2006- Succeeded by
Incumbent




v ? d ? eCurrent starting quarterbacks in the National Football League (as of Week 7 of the 2007 NFL season)
American Football Conference
East North South West
Edwards (Buffalo) Boller (Baltimore) Schaub (Houston) Cutler (Denver)
Lemon (Miami) Palmer (Cincinnati) P. Manning (Indianapolis) Huard (Kansas City)
Brady (New England) Anderson (Cleveland) Garrard (Jacksonville) Culpepper (Oakland)
Pennington (NY Jets) Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh) Collins (Tennessee) Rivers (San Diego)
National Football Conference
East North South West
Romo (Dallas) Griese (Chicago) Leftwich (Atlanta) Warner (Arizona)
E. Manning (NY Giants) Kitna (Detroit) Testaverde (Carolina) Bulger (St. Louis)
McNabb (Philadelphia) Favre (Green Bay) Brees (New Orleans) Dilfer (San Francisco)
Campbell (Washington) Jackson (Minnesota) Garcia (Tampa Bay) Hasselbeck (Seattle)

Categories: 1983 births | People from Montgomery, Alabama | Alabama State Hornets football players | American football quarterbacks | African American football players | Arkansas Razorbacks football players | Living people | Minnesota Vikings players




[edit] College career
Jackson played in the more competitive Division I-A during the 2001 season and part of 2002 while attending the University of Arkansas. A shoulder injury kept him from starting full time and when it was decided Matt Jones would start at quarterback instead of him, he transferred to Alabama State University, a historically black Division I-AA institution in his hometown of Montgomery. During Jackson's senior year, he amassed 2,655 yards, 25 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions with a 61.1% completion rate. Jackson has been given several nicknames such as T-Jack. In three seasons at Alabama State, Jackson completed 537 of 985 attempts for 7,838 yards, with 67 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions.[2]


[edit] NFL career

[edit] 2006 NFL Draft
The Vikings scouting and personnel had reportedly been watching him closely in secret over his senior season, particularly liking his performance in the East-West Shrine Game. They were also impressed by his workout at the scouting combine (among the top-5 quarterbacks in ball speed and 40 yard dash). Several NFL teams including the Vikings had arranged secret workouts with him too. Jackson was selected with the last pick in the 2nd round (64th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft, while he was projected to go much later in the 4th-7th rounds. The Vikings traded two 3rd round picks to get the 2nd round pick with which they drafted Jackson, fearing he may get picked sooner than anticipated. Jackson's early selection caused some surprise as he was the 5th quarterback taken and the 1st Division I-AA player selected (the last I-AA quarterback drafted was Spergon Wynn in 2000). Even Jackson was surprised by the pick saying, "I was more focused on [getting drafted in] the third round and even that was stretching it".[3] Most pre-draft publications didn't even have him listed as one of the top 10 eligible quarterbacks, while he was the 5th selected. On 26 July 2006, Jackson signed a four year deal with Minnesota, including a $1 million signing bonus.[4]

Vikings coach Brad Childress was quoted days before the draft as saying he was interested in finding a "developmental guy", a "diamond in the rough" quarterback of the future, raw talent he could teach a system.[5] Both new coach Childress and Vikings former quarterback Brad Johnson have had a lot of success developing quarterbacks in the past - A.J. Feeley and Donovan McNabb owe a lot of their success to Childress, and Chris Simms says Brad Johnson was the best tutor he's ever had. Jackson's quarterback coach at Alabama State, Reggie Barlow, played wide receiver with Brad Johnson at Tampa Bay so Tarvaris had been looking forward to learning from him. Other Vikings coaches have experience developing quarterbacks too. Vikings Quarterbacks Coach Kevin Rogers had developed Donovan McNabb in college. And Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell had spent time as Quarterbacks Coach to Brett Favre too. The use of two 3rd round picks showed how much they felt Tarvaris was the guy they wanted to use their skills to develop.

The day after the draft Vikings coach Childress was quoted by the St. Paul Pioneer Press as saying: "I think you judge quarterbacks a little bit differently...When you see what you want at the quarterback position, you need to go get it. And that's exactly what I see with Tarvaris Jackson is a guy that's a piece of clay, that has all the skills in terms of, No. 1, what's he look like throwing the football?...He's got a great throwing motion; he's athletic. He has all those things that we're looking for, and he's wired right. That's important for a quarterback. I think he's a flatline guy. I think he's a sponge. You're talking about a guy that never had a coach there as a quarterback coach. So what can he do with coaching?"[6] Jackson's agent, Joel Segal, said: "After the draft, there were two clubs that expressed disappointment and were mad they didn't get him. They were planning to take (Jackson) very high in the third round, and were lamenting the fact that the Vikings beat them".

Pre-draft measureables
Wt 40y 20ss 3-cone Vert BP Wonderlic
226 lb* 4.72s* 4.38s* 7.40s* 31 1/2"* 22*[7] X
(* represents NFL Combine)
[edit] 2006 rookie season
Jackson's 2006 pre-season passer rating was 106.1, 15th in the league out of 110 quarterbacks who performed. Only one quarterback from his draft class (Jay Cutler) did better. He also showed great scrambling skills averaging 11.3 yards in rushing (the only Viking other than Brad Johnson to average more than 3.3 yards in rushing). ESPN analyst Mike Tirico referred to Jackson as a right handed Michael Vick. His pre-season performance was enough to surpass 2nd and 3rd string QBs Mr.McMahon and J.T. O'Sullivan on the depth chart. After the pre-season, McMahon and O'Sullivan were cut from the team and Brooks Bollinger was brought in, who Jackson then competed against for the number two spot.

On 25 September 2006, Tarvaris Jackson had minor knee surgery to repair the meniscus in his knee. He returned to limited practice after two weeks, and then came back to play his first NFL game with the Minnesota Vikings in week 13 against the Chicago Bears[1] in the fourth quarter after Johnson was benched for throwing four interceptions and backup QB Brooks Bollinger was injured. Jackson completed three of his four passes before fumbling the ball to Chicago and the Bears then ran the clock out. Following this game when Jackson was asked if he was ready to take over as starter he said "Not really." and "We still have a chance to make the playoffs, so we're still trying to do that. So it's obvious that Brad is still our quarterback so we can stay on that."[8]

Two weeks later in week 15 Johnson started the game but was benched in the fourth quarter when the Vikings had been underperforming the entire game losing with a score of 7 to 26 at the time Jackson went in late in the third quarter against the New York Jets. Although Johnson hadn't thrown an interception that game and had a respectable passer rating of 94.2 in the game, the Minnesota fans jeered Johnson throughout the game and chanted "We want Jackson!" at numerous points because Johnson had only thrown 9 touchdowns all season (in 14 games) and had a career worst 71.9 passer rating throughout the season. Jackson received a standing ovation as he trotted out onto the field. A landmark in Jackson's career happened that game when Jackson completed his first touchdown pass with a pass to Mewelde Moore. Tarvaris threw 177 yards, a TD, and ran three times for 20 yards while the Jets protected their large lead. He also threw an interception in the red zone.

Jackson was named the starting quarterback for Minnesota in their week 16 game against the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings lost with a score of 7 to 9 with the only Vikings score coming from an interception for a touchdown by defensive back Fred Smoot. The offense set a franchise low record of only three first downs the whole game, didn't get close enough to the end zone to even attempt a field goal, and only had 27 passing yards gained against the NFL's 19th ranked defense (ranked 26th against the pass). Jackson had a passer rating of 36.5, had a 50% completion rate (10-20 for 50 yards), 1 interception, and a fumble. Though, he had made a few nice throws that had been called back on penalties, or else dropped by Wide Receiver Troy Williamson. Despite the performance's lack of "merit" (according to Childress), number 7 out of Alabama State remained the starter for the remainder of the regular season.

[edit] Career statistics
[edit] College
Year Team Passing Rushing
Att Comp Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Att Yds Avg TD
2001 Ark 9 3 33.3 53 5.89 0 1 7 14 2.0 0
2002 Ark 39 14 35.9 143 3.67 1 2 14 -16 -1.1 0
2003 ASU 261 135 51.7 1,984 7.60 18 9 92 454 4.9 5
2004 ASU 350 183 52.3 2,562 7.32 20 9 67 215 3.2 3
2005 ASU 296 181 61.1 2,655 8.97 25 5 95 271 2.9 3
Total 955 516 54 7,397 6.69 64 26 275 938 2.38 11

[edit] NFL
Year Team G GS Passing Rushing Sacked Fumbles
Att Comp Pct Yds Y/A Y/G TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD Sack YdsL Fum FumL
2006 MIN 4 2 81 47 58.1 475 5.86 118.8 2 4 62.5 15 77 5.1 1 8 37 4 1
Total 4 2 81 47 58.1 475 5.86 118.8 2 4 62.5 15 77 5.1 1 8 37 4 1

[edit] References
^ Player Bio - Tarvaris Jackson. Vikings.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-09.
^ Pasquarelli, Len (2007-05-18). Jackson preparing to lead Vikings. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-20.
^ Jackson's Reaction. Jackson's reaction after getting drafted.
^ CBC.CA - "Vikings sign quarterback Tarvaris Jackson to four-year contract". Originally published on 26 July 2006. Retrieved on 16 April 2007.
^ Childress Quotes before draft. Childress quotes before the draft.
^ Childress Quotes after draft.

^ Benoit, Andy. Vikings Staring at a Quarterback Controversy. The Sports Network. Retrieved on 2007-05-09.
[edit] External links
NFL.com Draft Prospect Profile of Tarvaris Jackson Scouting report of Jackson written up by JR Scouting LLC on NFL.com
Preceded by
Brad Johnson Minnesota Vikings Starting Quarterbacks
2006- Succeeded by
Incumbent




v ? d ? eCurrent starting quarterbacks in the National Football League (as of Week 7 of the 2007 NFL season)
American Football Conference
East North South West
Edwards (Buffalo) Boller (Baltimore) Schaub (Houston) Cutler (Denver)
Lemon (Miami) Palmer (Cincinnati) P. Manning (Indianapolis) Huard (Kansas City)
Brady (New England) Anderson (Cleveland) Garrard (Jacksonville) Culpepper (Oakland)
Pennington (NY Jets) Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh) Collins (Tennessee) Rivers (San Diego)
National Football Conference
East North South West
Romo (Dallas) Griese (Chicago) Leftwich (Atlanta) Warner (Arizona)
E. Manning (NY Giants) Kitna (Detroit) Testaverde (Carolina) Bulger (St. Louis)
McNabb (Philadelphia) Favre (Green Bay) Brees (New Orleans) Dilfer (San Francisco)
Campbell (Washington) Jackson (Minnesota) Garcia (Tampa Bay) Hasselbeck (Seattle)

Categories: 1983 births | People from Montgomery, Alabama | Alabama State Hornets football players | American football quarterbacks | African American football players | Arkansas Razorbacks football players | Living people | Minnesota Vikings players