Riverdale to retire Donte’ Jackson’s jersey Oct. 19

By Danielle Yunusah, Principal

Jefferson, LA – The Riverdale High School athletic department is excited to announce that for only the third time in school history an athletic jersey number will be retired.

On October 19, in between the first and second quarter of the evening’s game, Donte Jackson will have his football jersey officially retired. Jackson, who wore #1 while at Riverdale and Louisiana State University, will be on hand for the event.

Jackson currently plays for the Carolina Panthers and is in the midst of his 6th professional season. He was a 5-star recruit while playing for Riverdale football and also won multiple state championships in track and field. Jackson played at LSU from 2015 to 2017. During his college career, he had 110 tackles, four interceptions and one sack.

Jackson was also an accomplished sprinter on LSU’s track and field team. He has personal bests of 6.63 and 10.22 in the 60 and 100 meters, respectively. He was named the fastest player in college football in 2017.

The Panthers selected Jackson in the second round with the 55th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

The two previous jerseys retired by Riverdale are state championship winning coach Janan Courtney and football’s Michael Tobias.

Courtney was also the first athletic scholarship recipient from Riverdale. Her jersey number 13 is retired in the sport of volleyball.

Tobias who went on to success with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Tobias was the first football player to have his jersey number 51 retired.

Kickoff for the Thursday, October 19 game vs. De La Salle is set for 6:30 p.m. at Joe Yenni Stadium.

For more information, please contact Sean Temple, Athletic Director.