GREATER THAN THE
GRIDIRON
As many football fans kick back Sunday, Feb. 13 with friends and family to watch the NFL’s Super Bowl LVI, one OCPS educator will know firsthand what it’s like to play at the highest level of the sport. Legacy Middle Principal Jason Jimenez played professional football for nine years – three years with the National Football League and six years for the Canadian Football League. His foray into the world of football and teaching truly is an OCPS full-circle story. Jimenez’s South American parents (father from Peru, mother from Colombia) moved the family from New York to “small town” Orlando in the 1980s. Jimenez attended Cypress Park Elementary (now Sally Ride Elementary), Walker Middle, Edgewater and Cypress Creek high schools. A player of multiple sports, it wasn’t until the end of his junior year at Cypress Creek that coaches approached the 6’7” student to consider playing football as a means to go to college. “My dad saw the value in it because they weren’t gonna be able to send me to college,” said the Class of 1998 graduate. “My mom had her reservations … when it comes to [mothers and] their boys playing football. … Sports really played a pivotal role for me because it gave me an outlet.”
12 | Orange Peal
His work in the weight room and study of the sport garnered him a scholarship to play at Southern Mississippi University in Hattiesburg, Miss. (For football fans, Brett Favre also went here). There, he continued his strength conditioning and bulked up from 190 to 315 pounds at offensive tackle. “I worked out, I ate, … it was a regimented program,” he said. “You know, it was the same way that we look at student data here in OCPS. It was, ʻHere’s your data, here’s your next target. Here’s your next goal. Okay. This is what you do to get there.’” After five years at Southern Miss, the next goal Jimenez set his sights on was to play in the NFL. “I thought to myself, ʻThis is a young man’s sport. I won’t be able to do this in my 30s, 40s or 50s, or much later in life. It’s either now or never,’” he said. While not drafted, Jimenez was picked up by the Cleveland Browns. During minicamp, he was released by them and moved on to the Green Bay Packers, where he played on active reserve for 1.5 years. Next he went to the Oakland
