Michael Vick rolling, setting and launching an 88-yard touchdown pass to the speedy DeSean Jackson on the first play from scrimmage during a 2010 “Monday Night Football” game in Washington is baked into the memories of Philadelphia Eagles fans.
Vick and Jackson connected again Thursday night. They were wearing headsets instead of helmets at Lincoln Financial Field, the place they called home for five seasons as teammates in Philly.
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Jackson’s Delaware State bested Vick’s Norfolk State 27-20 while serving as the de facto home team, with Hornets red and light blue decorating the end zones and inner walls of the Eagles’ stadium.
“I never thought I’d look across the field and watch him coach,” Vick said of Jackson, per The Associated Press. “I know vice versa for him. It was just a really cool moment, a surreal moment.
“You just never know what life is going to put in front of you.”
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference showdown came to be this summer, with the help of the Eagles. Norfolk State hired Vick as its head coach in December. Less than two weeks later, Delaware State hired Jackson.
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They’re the latest former NFL players to take over HBCU programs, following in the footsteps of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who started coaching at Jackson State before making the jump to Colorado.
Jackson’s got Delaware State off to a 6-3 start. Thursday’s win clinched the Hornets’ first six-win season since 2012. Vick’s Spartans, on the other hand, are just 1-8, still searching for their own FCS turnaround.
The midweek matchup at the Linc went back-and-forth in front of an announced crowd of 47,266 fans. The conference game fed off the energy and the star power of their head coaches — so much so that Jackson was carried off the field after his Hornets prevailed.
Delaware State took a 10-6 halftime lead, courtesy of defensive back Amir Anderson’s blocked punt, which he turned into a go-ahead touchdown. A 17-play, 97-yard Hornets scoring drive went the distance to put them up 19-6 in the fourth quarter. The Spartans responded with a 70-yard pass from quarterback Otto Kuhns to wide receiver JJ Evans that made it a one-score game.
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But Delaware State countered with a haymaker of its own. Running back James Jones busted out a 76-yard touchdown run that helped the Hornets seal the deal.
“I’m just proud of, man, both of us,” Jackson said of himself and Vick, according to the AP.
“We’re in a position where we’re inspiring, changing young men’s lives at HBCUs. Man, it don’t get no better than that.”
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