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The Acklin name is very well known in the Southwest Missouri football scene. Jaelon Acklin has taken his talents from Mountian View, to Canada, and it’s been one heckuva ride since 2018.
“I try not to make a big deal out of anything, just go with the flow and do my best at whatever I’m doing,” Acklin said.
After Jaelon Acklin was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent, he found himself playing in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2019.
“Then I was on practice squad, the first week but after that I started every game,” Acklin said.
And we found him on SportsCenter — twice!
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun I love playing in Canada, like the people there, it’s just like their own little world, and their own little NFL,” Acklin said.
But he only played that one season until COVID-19 hit, and he went back to Mountain View.
“I worked for my grandpa at the lumberyard a little bit to help him out during the summer. He had me build picnic tables. After that, football season came around and I was like ‘grandpa, I might just go coach football, because this is really hard,'” said Acklin.
This spring the CFL still hadn’t announced its start date, but Jalen was presented an opportunity to connect with another great catch.
“I was actually just playing video games, and I saw that some lady commented on my one of my pictures and she DMed me before but I don’t really open my DMs all that much,” Aclkin said.
He was being recruited for a dating show.
“It was in a castle in Europe and like, there was like no phones or anything they were taking it like way back, like ballroom dancing,” Acklin said. “I already got my passport and everything, and then the next day, after I talked to the guy, the CFL like yeah we’re gonna play in July or August. I was like, are you serious, I have been waiting two years for you to say something, and I finally get plans and they dropped that on me.”
But Jaelon decided to catch us football over feelings.
“Yeah, I mean, my dream ever since I was a kid, was to play pro football not to go on a dating show. My friends think that I’m crazy,” said Acklin.
His journey with football continues with the Tiger-Cats this season.
