Former Coe College running back on top of his game with Buffalo Bills

His Facebook page said it all.

“THE MOST KNOWN UNKNOWN!!!!” Fred Jackson posted recently.

Just when you think the former Coe College all-American's story can't get any better ... The Buffalo Bills running back rushed for 163 yards in his team's 33-20 win over Tampa Bay last Sunday.

Getting a chance to be a No. 1 guy the first three weeks of the season because of a league-imposed suspension on Marshawn Lynch, Jackson has 220 rushing yards and 11 receptions for 108 yards in two games.

He's the only back in the NFL with over 200 rushing yards and 100 receiving. The most known unknown indeed.

“That says what it is,” Jackson said Thursday afternoon in a phone interview. “Nobody knows me, but I feel like I'm starting to make a name for myself.”

Jackson's amazing climb to the pinnacle of football is fairly well known around these parts but just being discovered nationally.

The 28-year-old Fort Worth, Texas, native was steered toward Coe with his twin brother, Patrick, by former Kohawk football coach Wayne Phillips, who coached the boys in junior high. Jackson played little at Lamar High School, serving as backup to Tommicus Walker, who went on to play at TCU and Nebraska.

After four outstanding years at Coe that concluded with a 29-touchdown senior season in 2002, he played for the Sioux City Bandits of the United Indoor Football League, where he was MVP in 2005. Phillips was friends with former Bills coach and general manager Marv Levy, a Coe grad, and kept pestering him about getting Jackson an NFL look.

Levy watched film and encouraged Jackson to play in NFL Europe, which he did in 2006 for the Rhein Fire. He made Buffalo's practice squad that fall, saw his first NFL action the following season and scored his first touchdowns (three) last season as more or less a complimentary back to Lynch.

And now there's 2009.

“This has always been the goal,” Jackson said. “I knew I had three games to prove myself. I've still got one more to go.

“I'm taking it one day at a time. It's not really overwhelming at all. Like I said, I've always just wanted to try and make a name for myself.”

Lynch returns to the Bills next week, but it's hard to believe Jackson won't still see plenty of playing time. Jackson said the two are actually friends, adding “he's like a little brother to me.”

“(Jackson) is a workhorse. There is no question,” Buffalo offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said this week. “There is nobody in this organization that doubts his ability. Obviously, we miss Marshawn because we don't want to pound Fred 30 times a game. And when we get those two guys back together, I think it's a dynamic duo.”

“Without a doubt,” Jackson said, when asked if he's OK with a diminished role. “I've never been a selfish player.”

But he is a wealthy one. A longer-than-expected negotiation with the Bills resulted in a four-year contract extension that reportedly pays Jackson around $2 million a season.

For a guy who made all of a couple hundred bucks a game in the UIFL, that's some serious scratch. Not that he's spending much of it.

“Nothing,” Jackson laughed, when asked what he bought with the cash from his new contract. “My wife's in charge of the money.”