UNK’s Montrez Jackson embodies ‘The Rise’ on and off the football field

KEARNEY, NE — There’s few UNK football players that better exemplify the program’s motto than running back Montrez Jackson.

Head Coach Josh Lynn has branded the team with the slogan The Rise since taking over in 2017. Jackson was part of Lynn’s first recruiting class.

“The Rise kind of is something that I feel like I just bought into with the guys that we brought in from the beginning all the way up to now," Jackson said. "It’s just been getting better and better.”

The Lopers have grown their win total each of the last five seasons. Jackson has grown his game, working as a return man, receiver and now as one of the team’s main four running backs. Offensive Coordinator Drew Thatcher praises the R-B room’s unselfishness.

“Some of those early guys just set the culture, it’s all about winning. Sometimes it’s TJ that’s going to get a lot of carries, sometimes it’s them," Thatcher said. "Again, it’s just kind of the culture that Coach Lynn has set and everybody’s just bought into that.”

“It’s a friendly competition. At the end of the day, we want to go in there and make plays. But as a whole, we love each other up and help each other out.”

For Jackson, The Rise goes beyond the football field. He asked to walk on as a high jumper on the track and field team.

“And they see me, I’m 5-foot-8 so I’m not the tallest person," Jackson said. "(Coach) looked at it and he saw I jumped and they let me try out. I tried out and ended up jumping 6’11” and kind of never looked back.”

He rose to the top spot in the Loper record book in 2019. 

“Looking at it, I was like ‘yeah I’m going to beat the goal.’ Shoutout to my man Brayden, he done beat it now,” Jackson said.

But football is Jackson’s first love. A love he now gets to share with his son, Cam.

“As he’s got older, he starts to recognize now that I’m playing football so he’s tried to come out on the field and I’ve had to stop him," Jackson said. "So yeah, it’s fun  definitely to see him at the game. He’s usually running around excited trying to do the things we do on the field.”

For the rest of his sixth season, The Rise means taking things a game at a time.

“Be 1-0 every week, finish out the season strong, get to that conference championship we’ve been chasing,” Jackson said.