PITTSBURGH -- Six months after kicking an American football for the first time, Mark Jackson tugged on a yellow Pittsburgh Steelers practice jersey on Friday morning and began warming up on a turf field more than 3,440 miles away from his home pitch.
A Gaelic footballer for Wicklow, the 25-year-old Irishman earned a tryout invitation at the Steelers' rookie minicamp after winning the organization's inaugural American Football Kicking Clinic in Dublin last month.
"When you're a kid growing up in Ireland, the NFL is the furthest thing from your dreams," said Jackson, one of four Irishmen part of the NFL's International Pathways Program this year.