Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Broward native QB still adjusting to fame
People recognize Lamar Jackson wherever he goes, but the Louisville quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner still doesn’t quite know how to react to his sudden fame.
Jackson, who is in Orlando this week with his team in preparation for Saturday’s Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl, talked to reporters after the team’s practice at Freedom High on Tuesday. The Cardinals spent their first day in Orlando on Monday with a trip to Universal Studios, and Jackson said plenty of people recognized him.
“I don’t know how to explain it. People see me and I’ll be like shocked sometimes,” Jackson said. “They’ll be like, ‘Lamar, is that you Lamar?’ and stuff like that ... I don’t even know what to say sometimes, but yeah, it’s cool.”
Although the quarterback grew up in Broward County, he said he had never spent a long period of time in Orlando and had never been to the theme parks.
“We went to Universal and that was fun,” Jackson said of he and his teammates. “I never went on rides before. That was the first time, so I had a ball. All of us were having fun, riding around, meeting a lot of people.”
The highlight of the day, at least for Jackson, was the Dueling Dragons roller coaster. “That had to be my favorite one. That’s the best one,” he said.
Saturday morning (11, ABC) Jackson returns to the scene of his last high school football game at Orlando’s Citrus Bowl, now named Camping World Stadium. He played in the OffenseDefense Senior Bowl in 2014, one of two all-star games Jackson participated in. The other was the Florida Athletic Coaches Association North-South AllStar Game at the Villages.
Jackson had a big game at the Villages, but remembers one thing: “Yeah, but we lost.”
He’ll be expecting plenty of family and friends in the crowd Saturday as the 9-3 Cardinals take on the 7-4 LSU Tigers, an SEC opponent Jackson is looking forward to lining up against. One reporter pointed out that the ACC is 7-3 against the SEC this season.
“We gotta step up, that’s all,” Jackson said. “That’s good for us, ACC, we’re stepping up in the game, you know. A lot of people always say SEC’s the big thing, but we’re stepping up, so we just gotta get right.”
He also acknowledged that with the Heisman Trophy in hand, teams will be coming at him even harder to stop the nation’s top college football player.
“That’s going to come with it,” Jackson said. “But I’m not really worried about it. We’ve got a great offensive line, so we just gotta get ready.”
He said he also hears the chatter from the opposition when he’s out on the field.
“Yeah, but I don’t really talk back. I just play football. Talking ain’t going to do nothing,” Jackson said.
Most important to Jackson is winning the game, especially after losing the final two games of the regular season to Houston and Kentucky, and for those outgoing seniors on the Louisville roster.
“I wanna win, my team wants to win. We’ve got seniors leaving, my brothers leaving,” said Jackson, who is a sophomore. “So we gotta let them leave on top and those last two games, I’m still mad about those, so we gotta get right.”