Cedric Jackson back on the sidelines; takes over at Discovery

Cedric Jackson with Discovery Middle players (record Photo/Lindsay Vaught)

MADISON- The last time we saw Cedric Jackson he was head football coach at now-closed Butler in 2014, their last year.

After a year away from coaching and three years removed from coaching at Bob Jones, Jackson is back in Madison and back on the sidelines.

He was named head football coach at Discovery Middle School in July. He was a teacher at Huntsville Middle School last year allowing him to spend more time with his family including his son Cedric, Jr. now a seventh grader at Discovery.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn how to coach a big program, working with administrators and learning to organize activities like dealing with parents. You have a lot more community involvement out here than you did at Butler. We have a lot of resources here and I have to use them effectively,” Jackson said after his players scrimmage Friday night at Bob Jones.

Discovery comes off back-to-back city and county championships. They were 6-1 last year but most of those players are now freshmen at Bob Jones.

Jackson brings years of experience to his job. He was a quarterback at Lee High and played at Alabama A&M before transferring to Midwestern St. (Texas) where he graduated and finished his playing career.

He was head coach of Bob Jones JV team from 2009-12, then coached quarterbacks at Hazel Green before landing at Butler.

One of his projects has been a new website for Discovery football dmspanthersfootball.weebly.com/ that has the schedule and information. He is a career prep teacher at Discovery.

“We came in late but the players have worked hard. They have to understand the physicality of what I am trying to put it.”

Former Discovery coach Len Lanier moved to a new coaching job at Randolph.

Discovery’s first game is Sept. 1 at Meridianville then Sept. 8 at Buckhorn. Their first home game is Sept. 15 vs Monrovia. They host Liberty on Sept. 29. Seventh grade games start at 5 PM, eighth grade after that game is completed.