BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Vonte Jackson was sitting with friends in Section H of Camp Randall Stadium, his eyes drawn to a spot in the north end zone.
It was Oct. 29. The Wisconsin football team was getting ready to face Nebraska in a high-stakes Big Ten Conference game and the warm, night-time air crackled with energy and emotion.
Jackson watched as the Badgers charged out of the tunnel and streamed toward the west sideline. He heard the sellout crowd roar as the thumping strains of "The Streets Have No Name" by U2 pulsed through the loudspeakers.
In that moment, Jackson couldn't help himself.
He began to cry.
"It was very emotional," he said.
At one point Jackson dreamed of being in that uniform, on that sideline, toiling alongside UW classmates like Vince Biegel, Bart Houston, Reggie Love, Leo Musso, Dare Ogunbowale, Eric Steffes and Connor Udelhoven.
At one point Jackson was projected to be the next great tailback at Wisconsin, falling in right behind former Kenosha Bradford High School teammate and fellow four-star prospect Melvin Gordon.
When Jackson signed with the Badgers over Michigan State and Northwestern and enrolled in school in January of 2012, there were whispers that he might be the best of them all given his combination of size (6-foot, 200 pounds) and sprinter speed.
Fate, quite cruelly, had other ideas.
Jackson never played a down for UW. He endured five knee surgeries, including four on his right, all to address issues related to torn anterior cruciate ligaments.
That explains why Jackson gave up football, a sport he fell in love with at age 6, in August of 2014.
That also explains why his visit to Camp Randall that night was his first as a spectator even though Jackson graduated in May with a degree in human development and family studies.
"I was resisting it," he said. "I couldn't watch any college football games. NFL, I could watch that for some reason, but no Badgers. I couldn't watch them."
What made Jackson go that particular night?
"I don't know," he said after some thought. "I just kind of figured that I'd give it a shot.
"Once I went, it was very emotional."
It's taken a while, but Jackson believes he has made peace with his circumstances even though he admits he currently has a "love-hate relationship" with football.
He lives less than a block from Camp Randall, but being in a McClain Center meeting room for an interview — a few floors below the UW football offices — brought back bittersweet memories.
Seeing two former Wisconsin tailbacks and teammates excel in the NFL — Gordon with San Diego and James White with New England — sometimes makes Jackson wince inside.
"For a brief period after I was done playing I had a lot of regrets, that I could still do this," he said of playing again. "I would say now, being a year out from playing, I'm more at peace with everything.
"I can't really say how long it took. I will say that after the last (knee injury), I kind of knew it was just not for me and started changing my mindset towards a different career path.
"I'm really happy. I know I made the right choice."
While some of his former UW classmates and teammates are being honored with other student-athletes on Friday and then graduating on Saturday — Biegel, Musso, Ogunbowale and Arthur Goldberg are the latest from the 2012 enrollees to earn their degrees — Jackson is further down the road.
He discovered a love for dentistry and was pursued by four dental schools before whittling the list of four-year programs to Marquette and Detroit. He has to make a decision before the end of the month.
"I've moved on and I'm really happy," he said.
Jackson is thankful for the opportunity to retain his full scholarship, which allowed him to secure a degree. He also had access to the Office of Academic Services and the Office of Student-Athlete Development, which offers a program that helps student-athletes transition from sports to a chosen career path.
"They do a really good job of looking out for you," he said of UW Athletic Department administrators and support staffers. "They honored my scholarship. I didn't have to battle with anybody."
Jackson said he stays in touch with members of the UW senior class, a group that saw Steffes earn his degree in May of 2015, Houston in December of '15 and Love in May of '16.
Another freshman with Jackson in 2012 was Alex Erickson, who graduated in December of 2015 and now plays in the NFL with Cincinnati. At various junctures of his Wisconsin football career, Jackson roomed with Musso, Ogunbowale and Voltz.
Watching the Badgers take the field to face Nebraska — Wisconsin won the battle of top-10 teams 23-17 in overtime — Jackson said he was happy for Ogunbowale, a good friend, former walk-on and converted defensive back from Milwaukee who's become revered as a co-captain and invaluable as a third-down tailback.
"That makes me feel better about everything," Jackson said, "seeing somebody else out there that's gotten the opportunity."
Jackson caught the serious eye of college football recruiters when he was a junior at Bradford, rushing 68 times for 956 yards — an insane average of 14.1 per carry — catching 14 passes for 266 yards and totaling 17 touchdowns.
Jackson remembers former UW running backs coach Thomas Hammock, now in the NFL with Baltimore, telling him he had the potential to play football for a long time.
"Everyone knew he was fast and if he got a step on you he was gone," Ogunbowale said of Jackson. "You pair that with the strength that he had and he was a very good running back coming out of high school."
Musso was a standout running back at Waunakee High School who saw video highlights of Jackson.
"He was a beast," said Musso, who switched to safety at UW. "I think they ran that Wing-T offense. Melvin on one side and him on the other. It was a deadly combo."
Jackson and Biegel were regarded as the top two prospects in the state entering their senior seasons, but Jackson tore the ACL in his left knee in the season opener.
Jackson's father, Allen, said that's when he saw his son at his lowest point.
"But he has a willpower in him that made him fight back through it," Allen said. "From what I saw, he got himself back to 100 percent."
Jackson rehabbed the knee, enrolled at UW early and was on track to play as a true freshman, but he was hit awkwardly while planting his right leg in preseason practice that August and the misery started all over again.
A year later, again during a preseason practice, Jackson had just been cleared to go full speed when a cutback resulted in another ACL tear. Why keep going?
"Vonte has a willpower that I can't compare to anything," his father said. "His strength, it goes beyond words."
Ogunbowale roomed with Jackson during one of his rehabbing periods and marveled at his attitude.
"It's really tough, the journey that he had to take," Ogunbowale said, "but somehow he was just a positive guy.
"It was tough because everyone thought he'd be one of those guys that obviously went to the NFL."
When another tear occurred in August 2014, Jackson knew it was time to seek a new path. His last surgery, done in May, involved putting bone grafts in screw placement holes that had become too wide over time.
"I can't imagine that happening four times,'' Musso said. "I don't think there's any chance at getting used to something like that.
"As an athlete, that's kind of the elephant in the room that you never want to talk about. It's crazy just to see how he persevered through that."
Jackson said he received multiple medical opinions before returning to the field — specialists associated with NFL and NBA organizations — but "nobody could figure out why it kept happening."
Jackson said his knees ache now when the weather turns damp or cold. He guesses he'll need a knee replacement somewhere down the line.
How did Jackson get his mind right after all those surgical procedures and grueling rehab sessions?
"It definitely was not fun," he said. "I was in a really dark place for a long time just because I knew what I was capable of."
Without football, Jackson put all his energies into school work.
"When I first came I was definitely focused on football and that was it," he said. "It definitely showed. I was so focused on football — I was getting everything right in the film room and stuff like that — but my classes … I wasn't doing so well."
Jackson said he recovered in time to push his grade-point average up to a 3.4 upon graduation.
When Jackson showed up at UW for the first time as a student, he said the first player he encountered was Russell Wilson, the future Super Bowl-winning quarterback who was prepping for a session with NFL scouts.
When Jackson graduated earlier this year, Wilson was the commencement speaker at Camp Randall.
"Full circle," Jackson said with a smile.
A painful journey complete. A new horizon beckoning.
"How you get through adversity defines who you are," Jackson said. "I'd like to think I did a pretty good job of getting through my adversity. I feel like I can get through anything now. I'm pretty confident about that."
