High School Showcase: McClatchy HC Quantrell Jackson Sr.

McClatchy HC Quantrell Jackson Sr. talks the Lions’ 4-0 start, their “Red Line” mentality and the culture change behind the turnaround.

BY BRENDEN NUNES

Sep 30, 2026, 4:02 PM

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Watch: Sactown Sports High School Showcase: McClatchy HC Quantrell Jackson Sr. | 9 mins

High school football season is in full swing, bringing Friday night games back to schools all throughout the Sacramento region. With plenty of potential future NFL and collegiate talent, there’s plenty to watch locally.

Sactown Sports is expanding its coverage of the local high school football scene with the ‘Sactown Sports High School Showcase’, a weekly feature highlighting some of the top teams, players, and matchups from around the area. Each week, The Drive Guys with Whitey Gleason and Allen Stiles will be joined by a reporter, coach, or another voice connected to the local football scene to get the latest insight.

For the latest edition of the High School Showcase, The Drive Guys were joined by McClatchy head football coach Quantrell Jackson Sr., whose Lions have opened the season 4-0 after finishing 3-6 in his first year leading the program.

Jackson credited the turnaround to the work put in throughout the offseason and, more importantly, greater buy-in throughout the program.

“We knew we had the talent and stuff to get it done, but we didn’t really have the buy-in completely,” Jackson said. “The kids have bought in, the coaches have bought in, and we’ve been grinding.”

That work has already shown up in the way McClatchy responds when games don’t go as planned. Jackson said the Lions struggled to recover from early mistakes last season but, this year he’s seen a different mentality from his group.

“They score on us, we’re going back out to score on you,” Jackson said. “Just a no-give-up, no-quit attitude in us that has continued to push us even more and more this season.”

McClatchy has named that mentality “Red Line.” Jackson explained that the program has used the phrase throughout the summer as a reminder to give “100% effort, 100% of the time,” something players can fall back on when adversity hits.

That message is especially important now as McClatchy enters a much tougher stretch of its schedule.

The Lions take on Yuba City before moving into Metro League play, where Jackson pointed to Grant, Destiny Christian Academy, West Park and others as challenges still ahead. He described the Metro League as a “juggernaut” this season and believes the league has more competition than in recent years.

“We’re playing all these next four games like they’re playoff games for us,” Jackson said. “We really don’t have any space to kind of let up. We’ve got to stay hungry.”

Jackson also highlighted two young running backs who have helped build McClatchy’s rushing attack between Robert Jackson III and sophomore Iris Merrill.

Both are still early in their high school careers, but Jackson believes each has significant upside. The larger story, though, remains the program’s shift in mentality.

Jackson said last season’s close losses became motivation throughout the offseason, with the Lions constantly reminded of how those games felt late in the fourth quarter. Now that work is starting to show.

“It’s a mindset change. It’s a culture change,” Jackson said. “We’re happy with 4-0, but we are not satisfied by no stretch of the imagination.”

Listen to and watch Sactown Sports’ The Drive Guys with Kevin “Whitey” Gleason and Allen Stiles, airing weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. PT on Sactown Sports.