EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The last time Adoree' Jackson played football without participating in an offseason program, he was spectacular.

At the University of Southern California in 2016, Jackson decided to forego spring practice so he could pursue his dream of making the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team as a long jumper. He placed 10th in the long jump in the trials and fell short of qualifying for the team. But later that year, he was one of the country's most productive college football players. A junior, Jackson won the Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back and was one of four finalists for both the Hornung Award and Lott IMPACT Trophy. He collected 55 tackles and five interceptions, returned two punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns, had seven carries for 51 yards and two receptions for 76 yards with a touchdown.

Fast forward eight years and Jackson is again ready to play games without a football offseason. After re-signing over the weekend, he will start his fourth year with the Giants when they open the franchise's 100^th season on Sunday at home against the Minnesota Vikings.

"I've been through this fire before," Jackson said today. "Mentally, I said that's what I was gonna do, and talking to myself and saying, 'I know 'I'm not gonna be here for football but it doesn't matter, I'm gonna do whatever I got to do to make sure I'm ready to go. Everybody thought, 'Oh, this is it.' I love track, I run track, but I have other dreams as well. To do that and have the season that I had and then get drafted in the first round, put a lot of reassurance of memories that I needed in my head. Even though I'm not out there in OTAs or I'm not out there in camp, I've been through this."

He would have been here had he been under contract. But throughout the offseason, Jackson was a free agent. The Giants began showing serious interest in bringing him back in the last two weeks.

"I always figured that I was gonna have an opportunity to play," Jackson said. "Obviously, I would have thought it would have been a lot sooner. Kobe Bryant has a thing about the storm, the storm is eventually going in when it does. What have you done to prepare yourself to get out of that? So, just staying ready, always in the weight room, running on the track, doing position work, taking care of my body. Not just my body, but my mental as well, knowing that one day, it just happened to be last week, that I would get to be on a team. Staying mentally sharp, and then physically sharp and tuning everything up has been one of the, I guess, best pleasures to be able to reset and go from there."

Jackon stayed in peak condition by working out under the direction of his high school long jump coach, Russell Biggs.

"We started back in April, so we've going four or five months, three days a week," Jackson said. "I do all the sprinting and lifting with him. When the season was about to start, we didn't do as many strenuous strength workouts. It was more of a tuning up, fast twitch, a getting everything together workout."

Deonte Banks, the Giants' 2023 first-round draft choice, has one starting cornerback job locked down. Cor'Dale Flott and Nick McCloud have split time at the other corner, though the former missed all three preseason games with a quad injury. Jackson has started all but one of the 39 regular season and postseason games he played in his first three Giants season, including 14 last year.

The Giants had a walk-thru today and will have their first full-scale practice of the week tomorrow, so coach Brian Daboll wasn't prepared to say if Jackson will start against the Vikings.

"I'd say we've got to get him out here and ramp him up and see where he's at," Daboll said. "We'll take it day by day, see where he's at, and how much to play him, how much not to play him. I think that's what we'll do, look at this week.

"By the end of the week, we'll determine what we're going to do relative to roster, play time, all those types of things. Those guys are competitors. It's the NFL, so you try to make it as competitive as you can make it, and we'll play the guys we think give us the best chance."

Daboll was asked if he wished the Giants had brought Jackson in sooner.

"There's always different times that guys come back, or you release them," he said. "That was just something that we thought would help our football team. There's been conversations with him prior to the day we signed him. So, we'll get him back in fold here, catch him up to speed as quick as we can, and see what happens this week."

In addition to preparing his body for the grind of an NFL season, Jackson must learn a new defense. He was with Shane Bowen, the Giants' first-year defensive coordinator, with the Tennessee Titans from 2018-20, when Bowen was the team's outside linebackers coach. Bowen became the Titans' coordinator in 2021, the year Jackson joined the Giants, so he has no history with the new defensive playbook.

"I don't want to say it isn't a challenge," Jackson said. "But when I was coming to USC, I had the defensive playbook and the offensive playbook because I played both sides. If there's something you want, you'll figure it out. That's what I've always been taught. If you really want it as bad as you say you do, you will eventually put the effort in to learn it and understand it.

"I got my iPad (with the defense on it), Friday or Saturday. You're trying to refresh. Obviously, looking at stuff like, 'Man, this is a lot.' But then, when you start to see what is what and understand, okay, I can put these into this category, put this into this category and that helps you go from there. When you play a game, you're not running the whole playbook, you just have a certain set of plays. So, being able to freshen up on specifically what I need to learn or what I need to do is helpful."

Jackson's return to the Giants has brought him full circle in a sentimental and meaningful respect. On Friday night, he was in attendance when his alma mater, Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, Calif., retired his No. 21. The Cavaliers are wearing a No. 21 patch this season to honor Jackson. Jackson will wear No. 21 this season with the Giants for the first time since high school.

"My best friend (Jeremiah Radford), he passed away from cancer, that was his number," Jackson said. "He loved 21. He loved LaDainian Tomlinson. When I moved from Illinois to California (prior to his sophomore year of high school), I got 21 just off the whim of getting it and then I had the opportunity to change my number. But when he passed away, I always kept 21.

"Wanted it in college. Su'a Cravens had it, wouldn't give it up. Don't blame him. He was a baller and he had 21 in high school. Wanted it in Tennessee. A guy named Da'Norris Searcy had it for his grandmother. I'm like, 'Okay, you got a story as well.' Then we get Malcolm Butler. I tried to get the 21. I couldn't get it then when I came here, because Pep (Jabrill Peppers) had it. Pep's my guy."

Jackson wore No. 22 in his first three Giants seasons. Rookie cornerback Dru Phillips now wears 22 and offered to give it to Jackson, who declined because he prefers 21.

"To get the opportunity to get it now, it's a surreal moment," he said.

Especially since it's with the Giants.

"In the back of my mind, I always felt like it was a home here," Jackson said. "But at the end of the day, you just never know. It's cool to get that reassurance that this is home."