PHILADELPHIA — (AP) — Michael Vick tossed the ball to DeSean Jackson at much shorter distances than, say, the time the former Eagles connected on an 88-yard touchdown pass in 2010.
Wearing a green polo shirt and cap, Vick still had some zip on the left arm. Jackson laughed as he made a few short runs before he had to change out of a white T-shirt and into a sports coat.
The kind of outfit needed at a news conference for a head coach.
Vick and Jackson haven’t played for the Eagles in more than a decade but the two franchise greats felt every bit at home Tuesday at their old stomping ground at the team’s complex.
The duo have now graduated into becoming rookie head coaches at HBCU schools; Vick at Norfolk State and Jackson at Delaware State out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. They are the kind of football programs and a conference that would never have such a major platform in the regular season as the one they will boast when Vick and Jackson go head-to-head (well, the teams will) on Oct. 30 at Lincoln Financial Field — the home of the Super Bowl champs.
“The Linc gets crazy already,” Jackson said. “Now you've got two legends. It's going to be hype.”
Vick, who played quarterback, and Jackson, who was a receiver, each hope to add one more signature moment as coaches in Philadelphia after a career full of them during successful tenures with the Eagles (as well as other stops in the NFL).
“There are a lot of things we could be doing,” Vick said. “But we chose to go down this route.”
Neither Vick nor Jackson have coaching experience but they are just the latest former NFL stars who had not coached before taking the helm at an HBCU program, a club that includes Deion Sanders and Eddie George.
Norfolk State has made only one playoff appearance since moving to FCS in 1997. The last five Spartan head coaches have had losing records, including Dawson Odoms, who was fired in November after going 15-30 in four seasons.
Jackson replaced Lee Hull after the Hornets went 1-11 last season.
Sanders eventually jumped from an HBCU program to a Big 12 team in Colorado. He led Colorado to a 9-4 record last season and earned a spot in the Alamo Bowl.
“Without Deion's success, our success would never be presented to us,” Jackson said. “When I had an opportunity to be in this role, in this seat, I reached out to him. I never thought I would be a coach. I'm just going to be real. All those years I played, I seen how much time the coaches spent in the building. After practice, meetings.”
Vick actually approached Jackson about joining his coaching staff at Norfolk State. Jackson considered the opportunity but jumped at his own chance to run a program.
“The kids and the youth are something that we really pour into,” Jackson said. “To have all the information and the knowledge we have, it would be selfish for us not to give back to these young men that are trying to get somewhere in life.”
Vick said he always wanted to coach and spent most of the last few years coaching his daughter's flag football team. Vick — who earned a second chance in Philadelphia after his NFL career with Atlanta was derailed by his conviction in 2007 for his involvement in a dogfighting ring — had run football camps since he was a rookie with the Falcons.
“Every time I have a camp, I feel bad when I leave, I feel bad when the kid goes on to get other coaching,” Vick said. “It was always in me to be with a group of young men, to develop them, see how they transition over a three-month period, a six-month period, a 12-month period.”
The good friends (each called the other a brother) now get a chance to measure their own coaching careers over those same time frames, and beyond.
Just maybe if the wins come, they'll get a call to a Power Four program like Sanders.
“Hopefully, I won't say hopefully,” Vick said, “it will be a success.”
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