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He was out to dinner with his mother and older brother, this not long after he'd arrived home from being deployed in Yemen, when Damian Jackson said something no one at the table saw coming.

He was going to play college football. He was going to play college football despite the fact he'd never worn a football helmet before. Never played a game in high school. Never played a game in Pop Warner. Never even attended a football game.

Really? That can't be. …

A walk-on Husker few yet know is a Husker, fresh to Lincoln after spending four years as a member of the Navy SEALs, Jackson smiles at the person giving him a surprised expression across the table. "There's a lot of weird things about me, like, 'Why am I playing football?' But it's definitely the sport I want to play."

"Never" is a weighty word, but not always associated with a wall that can't be knocked down. At least not as Damian Jackson approaches matters. You should know this about him right out of the starting blocks: He's taken out some walls already in his life.

He is the kid who told his mother and brother he wanted to be a foreign-exchange student in France as a high school sophomore. "Why not Australia?" his brother, Adam, asked. Then he wouldn't have to deal with such a language barrier.