New York Giants cornerback Adoree’ Jackson was in college at the University of Southern California when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2015.
She didn’t tell him about her battle until she beat it.
While many people look at athletes as heroes, Jackson considers his mom, Vianca, and others like her to be true heroes.
“People that are always selfless, to me, that’s the true definition of a hero. They put others before themselves,” Jackson said.
Jackson was a first-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in 2017 and he joined the New York Giants in 2021. Throughout his career journey, his faith in God has been a foundation.
“I just feel like, man, just the things that he’s put me through and brought me through, never letting my faith waver, never letting me stray away,” Jackson said recently on Faith On The Field Show. “It’s just like that [verse] in the Bible you know, as my parents did, raise a child up as he should, and as he gets older he’ll never stray away.”
Jackson was referring to Proverbs 22:6. It reads: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
During the season, Jackson can’t attend church on Sundays. But he understands that staying in the Word, attending Bible studies, fellowshipping with other believers, and praying keep him connected to the Lord.
“Obviously, you know we play on Sundays,” he said. “You don’t get to go to as much church as back in the day when you were kids, but I understand the teachings that they told me that the Bible taught me, or school has taught me, or church.”
Jackson has played a key role on defense, helping the Giants get off to a surprising 6-2 start under first-year head coach Brian Daboll. New York is coming off a bye and will host the Houston Texans on Sunday.
“We just bought into the process, and we got a whole new [coaching] staff,” Jackson said. “We came in early for the OTA process and everybody was just buying in and being selfless and trying to play for one another and just holding each other accountable. So, I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the Lord watching over us and also just to be able to just go out there, compete and have fun with my brothers and we’re playing for each other, man. It’s just a wonderful feeling.”
Jackson has high praise for Daboll, who was the offensive coordinator in Buffalo and helped develop Josh Allen into one of the top quarterbacks in the league.
“I think what he brings is just his own swagger,” Jackson said.
The energy that he’s had, he’s been with successful programs and organizations as well and five Super Bowls. He’s a guy who is going to talk trash with us and get after us when need be. So it’s just cool to have a coach like that, to be able to joke with us, to be able to be serious with us, and at the same time understanding that he has done it before. He knows how with the Bills and has had a lot of experience with it. So I think that’s what he brings. And then just the staff that he brought along with him, I just feel that he did a great job with picking everybody up.”