Laramie, Wyo. (April 8, 2022) --  If you didn't know Jackson Marcotte and were speaking to him for the first time, you would likely be impressed by his easy-going manner and his thoughtful insight as you talk with him.  But what is not evident on a first impression is his strength and determination in taking on one challenge after another.
 
The junior tight end on the University of Wyoming Football team has faced a series of challenges on the football field, including a severe knee injury followed by a second knee injury -- both of which he overcame to return to play for the Cowboys. 
 
Off the football field, Marcotte earned his bachelor's degree in political science at UW in two and a half years, and has for the past year taken on another challenge in beginning law school at the University of Wyoming, while continuing to play college football.
 
Marcotte's injury challenges began during the 2019 football season when against Utah State in Logan, Utah, on Nov. 16 he suffered a severe knee injury.  Told he may be looking at up to a two-year recovery, he came back from surgery and rehab and was ready to play in six and a half months as he was cleared to play for the start of the COVID season of 2020.  
 
"It was a really interesting time.  I had two major knee reconstructions over the course of two years," said Marcotte.  "Obviously after the first one, doctors and coaches told me, 'You're probably done playing.'  Being stubborn, I guess, you just keep going, and I responded well with the help of our strength staff and our sports medicine staff." 
 
Marcotte played in the first five games of the 2020 season for the Pokes, but prior to the sixth and final game of the COVID-shortened season vs. Boise State in Laramie, he had a routine checkup scheduled with his doctor.
 
"I had an MRI on Monday, practiced Monday night, felt great and then Tuesday morning the surgeon called and said everything was torn again," said the native of Mt. Carmel, Ill.  "I didn't even realize it. 
 
"I took some time after that and went home for the Holidays.  After the first injury, I stayed in Laramie for over a year.  I didn't go home for Christmas (2019).  I didn't go home for the summer.  When everyone went home during COVID, I stayed here for that two to three-month span and was just doing rehab here. 
 
"But when I was told that everything was torn again, I think that was when the mental side of things got really hard.  That took a lot of conversations with coaches and family to decide what I was going to do.  I thought that might be a longer process, but within a couple days I had decided I was going to try again.  It was just a response thing. 
 
"I came back in January (2021) for that second surgery and went at it all again.  Like I said before, our sports medicine staff -- Dave Kerns (UW head athletic trainer for football) -- combined with our strength staff gave me the resources I needed to make that easier from a mental standpoint."
 
It wasn't only his desire to play again that fueled his second comeback.  He also had a lot of other people who were motivating him to come back.
 
"I thought a lot about my teammates and the fans during my rehab," said Marcotte.  "I'm not from Wyoming, but I feel like I'm from Wyoming now.  I wanted to be able to play for my teammates, for our fans and for this state because it is a really unique place.  I always kept that in the back of my mind."
 
After Marcotte's second surgery, the original plan was for him not to play in 2021, and he was approaching his second rehab with a different mindset.
 
"I had told the coaches I didn't want to have to redo what I just went through, and so I wanted to take this rehab really slow," said Marcotte.  "I don't think people realize how much time we're together as teammates and when we started fall camp that was hard for me.  I saw all my teammates practicing, and I started thinking I think I can come back this year.  And so I started pushing my progression in rehab, not in a bad way, I was ready to and we didn't take any steps I wasn't ready to.  I was able to progress pretty quickly and then I went and met with the surgeon and spoke with Dave (Kerns), our head of sports medicine, and told them I felt ready to play.  Finally, I met with our strength coaches, who I was doing my workouts with at this point, and said, 'I think I'm ready.  Do you think I'm ready?'  They told me let's take a couple more weeks and everything kept progressing well.  By midseason, I was ready to go and after practicing for a couple weeks, I was ready to go out there."
 
During the time Marcotte was going through his second knee surgery followed by another grueling rehab period, that wasn't all that was on his mind.  He was thinking about pursuing another dream of his -- to go to law school. 
 
"One of my first academic meetings here at Wyoming kind of surprised my academic advisor," said Marcotte.  "They looked at my class schedule and said we don't think this is right.  But I had accumulated enough college credits throughout high school that I was pretty far along when I began college.  I finished my undergrad in two and a half years and then delayed my graduation until May (of 2021). 
 
"Well before I was done with my undergrad, our academic counseling staff had asked me what I wanted to do after graduation since I wanted to continue playing football.  I threw out the idea of law school, which was something I've always wanted to do, but I wasn't very optimistic about it and didn't know if it was doable.  I met with some people in our athletics administration, as well as the law school dean to talk about the feasibility of it.  I kind of just kept moving forward with the process.  I took the entrance exam -- the LSAT.  I went ahead and applied and got accepted.  Everyone was pretty ecstatic for me."
 
It was fortunate for Marcotte that his first-year law school classes were in the mornings, which allowed him to be able to go to his regular football meetings and practices in the afternoons.  But his study schedule made his days extremely long.
 
"Here and there I have to meet at different times with coaches, but for the most part my schedule has allowed me to accommodate both my academic and football schedules," said Marcotte.  "I think for most law students and attorneys I've talked with, it's hard to fathom the time demands until you experience it.  I jumped into my first semester at the same time I was trying to balance the demands of fall football practice, and it was just kind of a figure it out as I went thing.
 
"I would lift early in the mornings, go straight from my lift to class from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00, then run over for position meetings and then roll right into practice.  After practice and dinner, I might not get home until 7:30 or 8:00 at night.  Then I would have this huge load of reading and cases to analyze for my law school curriculum.  The scary thing about your first year of law school is professors just call on people randomly, so you have to be ready for class every day.  I would usually have up to 100 pages of reading every night and much of it was complicated cases that I had to breakdown to learn the application of the legal system.  It was kind of a survival mindset."
 
As Marcotte works toward completing his first year of law school this spring, he said he hasn't yet committed to a specific area of the law that he wants to practice, but he hopes to take a blend of different classes with professors who he connects with.  One area he has been interested in for a long time, however, is government, the political aspect of government and how the legal system integrates with that.
 
Marcotte has also had an opportunity to work with the local law firm of Pence and MacMillan in Laramie.
 
"I work with Megan Goetz.  She's incredible and is one of my mentors now," said Marcotte.  "I started with them while I was still finishing up my undergrad work.  I've had an opportunity to do everything from reviewing and editing documents to attending meetings with clients.  I worked with them for about six months in 2021, from January until we started football practice, and I'm looking forward to going back this summer and gaining even more experience."
 
With a bachelor's degree in political science and now pursuing his law degree, does Marcotte see politics in his future?
 
"I've always been fascinated with the idea that a person is elected and is supposed to represent people for the greater good to advance society," said Marcotte.  "Obviously, we see times when that's not happening, but it's interesting looking back at the creation of this country, the things that went into that and all the ideals that people have had for bettering society, bettering our country. 
 
"I'm optimistic about politics and I think that's why I'm drawn to it -- whether that's me being a politician someday or I would love to be on a staff of someone who recognizes that ideal of the betterment of society as a general good.  I think that is rare, but when you can find people like that it is priceless, and I'm drawn to that and would be really excited to work in that kind of environment."
 
Marcotte said he would potentially like to be in Washington D.C. someday.  He has started exploring what he could do to possibly serve in an internship role there in the summer of 2023.
 
While Marcotte doesn't have any family members in the law or in politics, he is proud to say that the way his parents raised he and his siblings created an environment where they were encouraged to think for themselves.
 
"I love bragging on my parents about this.  They never pushed anything on me or my siblings, but they were always there to guide us and allowed to us make our own decisions," said Marcotte.  "I wasn't involved in politics growing up, but I was interested in social studies.  When the 2016 election was going on, I had some great teachers in high school, who like my parents, were really awesome about letting students express their ideas. 
 
"My parents were also awesome about letting me express my ideas without them telling me, 'No you need to think like this.'  They not only let me say what I believed, but they talked with me about my beliefs.  Being fortunate enough to have an upbringing like that allowed me to see both sides of our complex political system.  I think there is a lot more agreement than people see.  My parents' ability to allow me to submerse myself in all different points of view really made me enjoy politics and government and the way it works."
 
Marcotte's mother, Theresa, recently retired as the Dean of Nursing for four community colleges in Illinois.  His father, Miles, has worked for Toyota manufacturing since the week before Jackson was born.  Before the Marcottes moved to Mt. Carmel, Ill., Miles worked as an engineer at a Navy base in San Diego working on fighter jets.  Jackson has three older siblings.  His oldest sister and her family live in Denver.  His other sister lives in Pensacola, Fla., and his brother lives back home in Illinois.
 
Recently, Marcotte made another big commitment in his life when he proposed to his long-time girlfriend.
 
"I just got engaged to Katie Welniak.  I proposed to her in Spain over spring break and for some reason she said yes," said Marcotte.  "She's doing an internship in Spain this semester, and she has been accepted into the communications graduate program here at Wyoming, so she will be here this coming year and will be a graduate assistant.  We met in Laramie the summer before my freshman year (2018) and have been together for four years now."
 
Katie Welniak is the daughter of Wyoming Senior Associate Athletics Director Randy Welniak and his wife Wendi Welniak.  Katie played volleyball at Black Hills State for the past four years.
 
Whether it be football or his college education, Marcotte has always been ready to take on new challenges.  It will be exciting to see not only where Marcotte's college playing career goes this coming season, but it will be exciting to see what the future holds for this young man in the years to come.