Jarious Jackson

Jarious K. Jackson (born May 3, 1977) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the quarterbacks coach for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was the interim head coach of the Edmonton Elks in 2024. He has also been a coach for the Toronto Argonauts, Saskatchewan Roughriders, BC Lions, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Jackson played professionally as a quarterback in the CFL for eight seasons with the Lions and one year with the Argonauts where he won three Grey Cup championships in 2006, 2011, and 2012. He was also a member of the Denver Broncos (NFL), to whom he was drafted 214th overall in the 2000 NFL draft, and the Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe). Jackson played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Early life Jackson attended Tupelo High School in Tupelo, Mississippi, and was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he won SuperPrep All-America honors.

College career Jackson attended the University of Notre Dame, where he was a two-year starter and set school single-season records for passing yards (2,753), completions (184), and attempts (316) as a senior during the 1999 season. In the process, he broke the yardage mark held by the legendary Joe Theismann. (All of Jackson's records were subsequently broken by Brady Quinn.) Jackson also threw for 17 touchdowns during his senior year, ranking third behind Ron Powlus and Rick Mirer. He was second on the team in rushing with 140 carries for 464 yards (3.3 avg) and 7 scores.

Denver Broncos Jackson was drafted in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL draft, 214th overall, by the Denver Broncos. Pro scouts projected that Jackson could develop into a solid NFL quarterback if placed into the right system. However, after four seasons as a Bronco backup, he saw action in only five games, completing 11 of 22 passes for 114 yards.

At the beginning of 2006 season, Jackson began as the third-string quarterback, behind Dickenson and Buck Pierce. However, with alternating injuries to Dickenson and Pierce, he made appearances in all but the final regular season game. For the 11 games Jackson was starting, he had a record of 9–2, threw for 2,553 yards, 18 touchdowns on 167 completions and 10 interceptions. On February 4, 2008, Jackson re-signed with the Lions 12 days before qualifying as a free-agent. At the beginning of the 2008 season, he was the back-up to Buck Pierce, but started some games. His only pass in the Western semi-final was a touchdown toss to Geroy Simon.

He was released by the Lions on February 1, 2012.

Toronto Argonauts On February 22, 2012, it was announced that Jackson had signed a two-year contract with the Toronto Argonauts. He dressed in all 18 games, starting in four, and was a member of the 100th Grey Cup winning team while throwing a touchdown pass in that game. On February 4, 2013, he was released by the Toronto Argonauts.

Shortly after his release from the Argonauts, it was announced that Jackson would sign a one-day contract with the BC Lions so that he could retire as a Lion.

Coaching career Immediately upon retiring it was announced that Jackson would then begin his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach for the Lions. After coaching in BC for one year (2013) he spent the next couple seasons as the quarterbacks coach for both the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders before being named the BC Lions' Offensive Coordinator for the 2018 season. He retained the position for the 2019 BC Lions season, but after a disappointing year, his contract was not renewed for 2020.

On February 6, 2020, it was announced that Jackson was joining the Toronto Argonauts as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The 2020 CFL season was cancelled, but Jackson coached for the Argonauts in 2021 where the team finished in first place in the East Division.

On January 4, 2022, Jackson formally joined the Edmonton Elks as the team's pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He retained the same role to begin the 2023 season, but after an 0–8 start to the season, Jackson was promoted to offensive coordinator on July 31, 2023, replacing Stephen McAdoo.

On July 15, 2024, following the dismissal of head coach, Chris Jones, Jackson was named interim head coach while retaining his play-calling duties. He posted a 7–6 record in the remaining 13 regular season games, but the Elks failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. He was not selected as the head coach for the 2025 season following the hire of Mark Kilam. He was also not retained on Kilam's staff.

On February 4, 2025, it was announced that Jackson had been named the quarterbacks coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Calgary Stampeders announced on January 5, 2026, that Jackson had joined their coaching staff as their quarterbacks coach.

Career statistics

Playing career Professional Passing Rushing Year Team Games Att Comp Pct Yards TD Int Rating Att Yards Avg Long TD Fumb 2000 DEN 2 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 39.6 1 −1 −1.0 −1 0 0 2001 BAR 10 223 125 56.1 1,544 13 6 85.9 43 287 6.7 21 2 2001 DEN 1 12 7 58.3 73 0 0 76.0 5 7 1.4 0 2 2002 DEN 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 2003 DEN 1 9 4 44.4 41 0 1 18.5 1 9 9.0 9 0 0 2004 BC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2005 BC 8 6 3 50.0 60 0 0 64.6 4 35 8.8 21 0 0 2006 BC 18 79 37 46.8 477 3 2 68.4 46 137 3.0 15 1 0 2007 BC 18 304 167 54.9 2,553 18 10 88.9 49 265 5.4 18 3 9 2008 BC 18 288 158 54.9 2,164 17 10 84.3 63 362 5.7 25 2 4 2009 BC 10 155 90 58.1 1,252 12 8 88.4 32 143 4.5 14 2 5 2010 BC 18 48 26 54.2 293 0 3 46.6 11 26 2.4 7 0 0 2011 BC 18 39 18 46.2 263 1 2 55.8 22 80 3.6 17 0 2 2012 TOR 18 135 72 53.3 846 4 3 73.3 42 122 2.9 15 3 0 CFL totals 126 1,054 571 54.2 7,878 55 38 80.8 269 1,170 4.3 25 11 20

College

CFL coaching record Team Year Regular season PostseasonWonLostTiesWin %Finish Won Lost ResultEDM2024760.5384th in West Division – – Did Not QualifyTotal760.5380 West DivisionChampionships – –0 Grey Cups