When Jackson arrived at Southern as a freshman in 1962, he didn't miss his opportunity. "Tombstone" started as a freshman at outside linebacker, and he split time on offense between split end, tight end and flanker.

Jackson, though, was more than just a football player. He dominated the Southwestern Athletic Conference in track and field, as he won the SWAC three times in shotput and four times in discus.

He still holds the Louisiana collegiate shot-put record.

Jackson's time at Southern University — located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana — coincided with the peak of the civil rights movement. And as he excelled on the football field, he also received a look at the world that he says is incomparable to what one would expect at a non-HBCU.

"It taught us how to navigate through society, making decisions, how to prepare yourself for the long haul," Jackson said. "Even today, I don't think some of the kids there would go to other schools would have received what I received in terms of being able to navigate and present yourself and be able to deal with some of the things that I have encountered along the way. Just speaking to some of the guys who have gone to so-called integrated schools, they don't have the same mindset that I have. They have not had the same preparation that I've had, and even today, I'm able to go into any setting and be successful, able to speak with anyone in any setting and any environment and not have a feeling that I would be less than anyone, that I was less educated than anyone, because you have an opportunity to be nurtured. And, like I said, I talked to guys who had gone to their schools.

"You come into contact with some other black players who had gone to other schools, and you just don't have the same mindset. You don't have the same concept, the same understanding about worldly ideas and worldly things."

Jackson said he knows his experience at an HBCU shaped him and the way he's raised his family.

"I tell you, it's unbelievable to have gone to an HBCU," Jackson said. "I've taken some classes at some other schools, like graduate classes and other corresponding classes and everything, and just the atmosphere — if you just have to deal with the atmosphere — was different. I go to most of Southern's home games, and it's just like Day 1 when I first went up there from out of high school. The camaraderie. It's just different."

In the years before his time with the Broncos, Jackson chose to forge that unique path for himself. And decades after his time at Southern University, it's clear he couldn't be more grateful that he chose to attend an HBCU.