Daniel Jackson signs with Carolina Railhawks from NASL

Our player, Daniel Jackson signed his first professional contract last week with Carolina RailHawks from the NASL. Daniel played for Coker college, was drafted by RSL and went to three more teams before finally fulfilling his dream of becoming a pro soccer player. Through this whole process, I was amazed to see how mentally strong he is. I first saw Daniel at the InfoSports combine, where Daniel impressed me as well as many of the coaches that were there.

With great pace, high soccer IQ, and tremendous ability to score goals, I am certain that this is only the beginning for Daniel.  Thanks Daniel and best of luck this season!

I asked Daniel to write about the process and share his experience of becoming a pro soccer player.

“This whole experience has been an absolute blessing and a dream come true. It’s crazy to think that just about 4 months ago I was finishing my college career and unsure of my future. But I knew I wanted to play at the next level and took steps to make it happen. I think perseverance was a big thing for me. Yes I’m 24 and I’m just turning professional and a lot of people might say that’s old but that doesn’t matter to me, what matters is that I stuck with it and achieved my ultimate goal which was to be drafted and to play at a professional level. Some people don’t know much of my story but before going to Coker College I took about 2 years off from playing collegiate soccer and was working and going to school but made time every night after my shift to go out to the local plex near me and play, sometimes until 2am. I felt that really helped me become the player I am and also grew my love for the game even more because each week I saw the results of my hard work fine tuning some individual skills I had lacked before. So seeing my name on the Draft board was absolutely unreal, the hard years of work and the grind finally paying off and I was a bit overwhelmed with a lot of emotions but it was a great achievement and one that I’ll remember the rest of my life. On top of that, in the past 2 months I’ve been on quite a journey alot of people may never experience and I’m grateful for that. From Real Salt Lake to Chicago and Orlando then to Carolina it’s been a massive eye opener about what I still need to learn and grow from but I’m grateful that the Carolina Railhawks Organization has taken me in and believe I have what it takes to produce in this league and I’ll definitely work to live up to that high standard here in this prestigious club!”

- Daniel Jackson