Jackson Kilburg's road to Lipscomb Academy QB began as third-grader in high school football film room

Jackson Kilburg became a quarterback by default, really, as a third-grader playing football in suburban Chicago. His father Jeff Kilburg was the team's coach.

Jeff, who was a 6-5, 305-pound lineman at Notre Dame, put out an all-points bulletin for a quarterback. Silence ensued — except for one kid. His kid.

Jackson, who is now in line to potentially be the starting quarterback at Lipscomb Academy, raised his hand.

"No one else wanted to play quarterback," Jeff said. "Nobody. Jackson raises his hand and says, 'I got it.' From that moment on, the kid just had the ability and the desire to play quarterback. ... Here we are in the blink of an eye 10 years later."

"That's pretty much what happened," Jackson said. "Just watching the NFL and college, I saw the quarterback was the leader of all those teams. It just felt right stepping into that role."

Kilburg is competing with fellow junior Tav Shaver to be the starting quarterback for the Mustangs.

Road to Nashville

The Kilburgs' road to Nashville ran through former Mustangs coach Trent Dilfer, who shares a mutual friend with Jeff Kilburg. That mutual friend was Bryant Young, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and Kilburg's former teammate at Notre Dame. It also ran through Jeff's ability to take his job to Nashville. Kilburg founded KKM Financial and is a contributor on CNBC.

Jeff moved his wife Ashley and three children — sons Jackson and Carter and daughter Chase — to Nashville and enrolled them in the Lipscomb school system. The decision, Jackson Kilburg said, wasn't easy.

The kid who began watching film with coaches from Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill., in third or fourth grade on Sunday nights, the only fourth-grader allowed to work out at that high school, brought with him to Nashville memories of his grandmother who supported him and his uncle, whom he called after every game. His grandmother, who was a nurse, died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2021. Six months later, his uncle, Jeff's brother, died of skin cancer.

"I think that pushes him even harder. He had to do a lot of growing up. That made Jackson really mature, I think, too quickly," Jeff Kilburg said. "But that strength he continues to draw from his uncle Jim has really fortified him into a leader as a human."

Jackson, a 6-foot-3, 210-pounder, counts among his offers already UAB, Marshall and Eastern Kentucky. He's yet to start a high school football game and moved to Nashville from the Chicago area before last school year.

Kilburg's quarterback coach Kolt Peavey was immediately impressed with the junior's football IQ and ability and measured his ceiling as high, attributes perfect for a program at Lipscomb that has won two straight state titles, a program that lost a Super Bowl champion quarterback in Dilfer and replaced him with a Pro Football Hall of Famer in Kevin Mawae.

"When you're in meetings with him, you're going over something and it's like, 'Got it, coach,' " Peavey said. "Well, let's see. Get up there and draw it, and it's to a 'T' how a coach would draw it. We're like, 'OK.' That's just daily with him.

"You're like, 'We can probably build a team around this guy.' "

Peter Skoronski, a Tennessee Titan and familiar face

Turns out an old friend and neighbor coincidentally followed Jackson Kilburg and his family to Nashville: Titans first-round pick Peter Skoronski.

Skoronski played at the same high school Jeff attended, lived "a 15-second walk" from the Kilburgs.

During COVID, Skoronski often would make that 15-second trip down the block to work out at the Kilburgs' home. The two have remained tight. Jackson was elated when he learned Skoronski was coming to town, another kid from the Chicago area trying to make a name for himself in Nashville.

"They call Jackson 'The Chicago kid,' " Jeff said. "He's been accepted by a lot of other teammates. It speaks volumes, the type of person Jackson is, how quickly he adapted and how quickly he's assumed a leadership role on a team filled with a cast of four- and five-star players.

Where Jackson goes from here remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, though: His family will be there to document every step of the way.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA football: Lipscomb Academy QB Jackson Kilburg watched film early