Legends Series: Former A&M LB Robert "Stonewall" Jackson

Key notes from Robert Jackson interview

• I get my nickname called here and there. That's about it. Every now and then I ask how people know about it and they remember me from Cleveland and A&M. Right now I'm doing landscaping in Houston, but I'm in retirement mode with my bad knees and back.
  
  
• At one time I was going pretty regularly to Aggieland - about four or five years ago. I've been into my work but now that things are slowing down I was able to get down to the spring game and see what's coming in and where things are going. I was talking to some of the guys and the facilities are just unbelievable. Cain Hall isn't there anymore or the opening that we use to walk through. It's really nice and looks awesome.
  
  
• I visited with Cody [Risien] at the spring game. You know we played in Cleveland together. He's pretty banged up too. I visited with Bucky Sams, he really made me work a lot on my blocking. There were a lot of guys that were there and we just visited and caught up on old times.
  
  
• I went to Henderson County Junior College first out of Smiley High School in Houston. I wasn't going to play football, my dad had a good job and he was going to get me a job. I ended up having some kids and decided I really do need to work and started up with my dad. I had a buddy who told me I should try to go to a junior college and try to get to A&M. I went to high school with a lot of those guys and we kind of followed each other all over.
  
  
• Carl [Roaches] showed me around when I got to A&M and Coach Slocum was at my room everyday to get me to come to A&M. I made a few more visits and he was persistent while I was waiting to make a decision.
  
  
• The teams that we played, Coach Robertson or "Mad Dog" would get us geared up to play the right defenses at the right time. It always seemed like he was in the other coach's head. Everything that we would run would work perfectly. We had a bunch of talent but it was the coach calling the right defense that put us in a position where we were always there to make a play. It was fun. We had nine or 10 guys go to the league that year. Just so many good memories.
  
  
• I think the world of Earl [Campbell]. I remember Coach use to tell me just study, study, study. I would go in a look at the film and watch how guys blocked team-to-team. What do they do on third down or second down and how are they going to block you. When you do things like that, you end up in a supporting cast with guys shifting and everything working so perfectly. Earl was a type of guy that when you watched against other teams, he went 200 yards plus and it was going to be a team effort. Everyone was going to have to hit him. I have a poster of seven or eight guys hitting him one after the other.