Jackson was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He attended Sharon High School, and played for the Sharon Tigers high school football team. During his high school career, he compiled 281 career tackles, nineteen tackles for losses, three quarterback sacks, seven forced fumbles, three recovered fumbles and eighteen interceptions, including four touchdown returns. On offense, he rushed for 330 yards and five touchdowns, and caught fifty-seven passes for 1,026 yards and eighteen touchdowns. Jackson earned all-state honors, was the Pennsylvania high school player of the year and picked for the USA Today and Prep Football Report All-American teams. He played in the first-ever U.S. Army All-American Bowl game on December 30, 2000.
College career
Jackson attended the University of Michigan, where he played for coach Lloyd Carr's Michigan Wolverines football team from 2001 to 2004. He was recognized as a first-team All-American in 2002 by Pro Football Weekly. As senior team captain in 2004, he was a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and a consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of American, The Sporting News, and ESPN.
Jackson finished his career as the second all-time leader among Michigan players in pass breakups. During his senior year, opposing coaches and quarterbacks, concerned at Jackson's interception and pass break-up ability, threw less than fourteen percent of their passes in his direction.[1]
Jackson was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round with the 29th overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft.[3] As an NFL rookie he had 52 tackles and one interception. Marlin played mostly in passing situations with one start in 15 games. In his second season, he had 82 tackles and 1 interception. He started at safety in place of the injured Bob Sanders. Marlin's career high was a 14 tackle performance against the Houston Texans.
On October 30, 2008, Jackson injured his knee during practice. Marlin had surgery to repair the damage and missed the remainder of the 2008 season. Yahoo! Sports delivered an update on his status on June 25 saying that he "looks to be making strong progress from midseason knee surgery."[4]
On March 5, 2010, Jackson was declared a free agent after he was non-tendered by the Colts.[5]
His older brother Elmarko Jackson was a running back for Temple University. He was involved in an incident which made headlines in 2000 when he was stabbed several times on campus after an argument with another student.[11]
Legal
Jackson was charged with felonious assault in the summer of 2003. A 26-year-old man accused Jackson of striking him in the right eye with a bottle on June 1, requiring 17 stitches, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[12]
On February 19, 2009, Jackson won the civil lawsuit regarding this incident.[13] Not only did the jury find Jackson not liable for any damages, they rejected the claim that he attacked the plaintiff with a bottle, found the plaintiff liable for defamation and malicious prosecution, and awarded Jackson $225,000 in damages.
