Temple University Athletics
Make Room for Jackson Pruitt; He Wants a Seat at the Table
9.11.26 | Football
For Jackson Pruitt, staying has always meant something, even when leaving was an option.
Five years after arriving at Temple, the Detroit native is the only player remaining from his original recruiting class. In that time, Pruitt has experienced three head coaches, position changes along the offensive line and seasons that did not always end where he hoped they would.
Yet each time college football gave him an opportunity to reconsider where he belonged, Pruitt kept choosing Temple.
Now a fifth year senior and one of the veterans of the Owls' offensive line, Pruitt enters his final season with more than football on his mind. He wants to help Temple win, pursue an opportunity in the NFL and, eventually, make sure athletes who come after him have a voice in shaping their own futures.
That journey started in Detroit where Pruitt rarely found himself far from a playing field, court or rink. He tried nearly everything—karate, hockey, baseball, soccer, basketball and football—before narrowing his focus in high school.
His parents gave him the opportunity to travel and compete, and eventually Pruitt found his way to Cass Tech, a program with a reputation for producing college and professional football players. He played both offensive and defensive line for four seasons, earning first-team all-state honors as a junior and senior along with three consecutive all-region and all-district selections.
But his introduction to Temple came before the recruiting process was in full swing.
Pruitt first visited the university as a ninth grader during a bus tour. Philadelphia immediately felt familiar.
"I saw the city, and it reminded me a lot of Detroit at the time," Pruitt said. "It was kind of somewhere like home."
Years later, as offers accumulated, that early impression remained.
Temple offered more than football. Pruitt, now a business major, was drawn to the university's School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management and the opportunity to earn a degree while playing at the highest level of college football.
There was another attraction, too: the chance to help build something.
"I wanted, honestly, to help rebuild and go back to how things used to be," Pruitt said.
The rebuilding process would test that commitment.
After redshirting in 2022, Pruitt earned his first career start at right guard in Temple's season-opening victory over Akron in 2023. He appeared in all 12 games that season, making additional starts at left guard.
His role continued to grow. Pruitt started at both guard positions during the 2024 season before establishing himself as Temple's starting right guard in 2025, starting every game and serving as a team captain against Tulsa. He earned second-team All-American Conference recognition from PFSN following the season and entered 2026 as a preseason fourth-team All-American Conference selection by Athlon Sports.
The individual progress came amid constant change around him.
By his final season, Pruitt had played under three Temple head coaches. The transfer portal offered him a way out, even after the arrival of head coach K.C. Keeler and his staff, but Pruitt continued to stay.
"I've always been a person of faith and looking in the mirror, like, 'What can I do to get better each day?'" Pruitt said. "A lot of times, seeing how our previous season ended, I'm like, 'Bro, it doesn't have to be like this.'"
He still saw what he had envisioned when he first chose Temple: an opportunity to graduate, pursue professional football and be part of changing the direction of the program.
Under Keeler and the new staff, Pruitt saw that change begin to take shape.
For him, some of the clearest evidence was in his own position room. An offensive line that Pruitt acknowledged had struggled during his earlier seasons began developing into a strength. At the same time, his own role changed. The player who had witnessed the program's difficult years was now someone his teammates could look toward for leadership.
"It's something I've kind of always envisioned," Pruitt said. "Being here and witnessing kind of being at the bottom of the barrel, and now it's kind of like us, and me, expecting to be a leader for this team."
His teammates have watched that transformation happen.
Starting tight end Peter Clarke has shared the field with Pruitt since 2023. Over that time, Clarke has watched Pruitt develop not only as an offensive lineman, but as one of the players that teammates rely on to help hold the program together.
"Jackson has continually grown as a person, football player, and leader," Clarke said. "He is a huge part of the glue that keeps Temple football together."
That presence, Clarke said, comes from more than Pruitt's experience.
"His consistent play, along with his effort and leadership qualities, has made him a valuable part of our locker room and someone we look at to help drive this program in the right direction," Clarke said.
That responsibility extends beyond protecting the quarterback or opening a running lane.
Pruitt talks about his offensive line teammates as brothers, relationships forged in the difficult seasons that preceded their progress. Those relationships are part of what made remaining at Temple worthwhile.
"Regardless of the trials and tribulations that took place, Temple has done so much for me, on the field and off the field," Pruitt said. "I just want to play for my brothers."
For Pruitt, however, leadership has also started to stretch far beyond the football field.
As his college career progressed, he became increasingly interested in the way decisions affecting college athletes are made. His concern is not with the NCAA as an institution, he emphasizes, but with a system in which athletes can be absent from conversations that directly affect their careers, compensation, and bodies.
"People are making decisions for athletes, without athletes in the room," Pruitt said.
It is an issue he has done more than talk about.
Pruitt has worked with Athletes.org, an organization seeking to give college athletes greater representation and resources and traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate for athletes during conversations surrounding federal legislation and college sports.
His argument is straightforward: if lawmakers, administrators, and other decision-makers are debating policies that determine athletes' futures, athletes should have a seat at the table.
He points to professional sports as a model. The NFL has the NFL Players Association. The NBA and WNBA have their respective players associations. Those organizations give players formal representation in discussions that affect their working conditions and careers.
College athletes, Pruitt said, deserve meaningful representation of their own.
"You read all these headlines, there's no athletes present sitting in those conversations," Pruitt said. "How are you gonna make a bill or pass legislation without our voices?"
His interest comes partly from experience. Pruitt has watched players navigate the uncertainty of college athletics and knows younger athletes, including his younger brother and other family members, will soon encounter the same system.
He wants their experience to be better.
"I don't want him to have to deal with these types of things and go to Washington, D.C., to talk about basic rights that he should have as an athlete," Pruitt said.
Pruitt's ambitions reflect just how seriously he has come to view that responsibility.
First, he wants to play in the NFL. Beyond that, he has another goal.
"I want to be president of the NFLPA one day," Pruitt said. "Obviously, it takes being in the NFL, so I got to work on that goal first."
Whether that eventually means leading a players' association, helping athletes evaluate the people around them or assisting players in maximizing their brands, Pruitt sees a future where his experience can help someone else navigate theirs.
There will be time to determine exactly what that future looks like.
For now, his focus remains on the place he has continued to choose.
Pruitt has already graduated. He has developed from a redshirt freshman seeing his first college snaps into an all-conference offensive lineman and veteran leader. He has found his voice in conversations that extend all the way from Temple's offensive line room to Capitol Hill.
But there is still one season left.
One more chance to line up alongside the teammates he calls brothers. One more opportunity to push Temple toward the program Pruitt believed it could become when he first arrived. And one more step toward the professional career that could someday give him an even larger platform to advocate for the athletes following behind him.
"Right now, I'm just trying to focus on my last year," Pruitt said. "Enjoy this time with my brothers and go out there and have our best year possible and hopefully prepare to be in the NFL."
After five years of choosing Temple, Pruitt has a chance to leave it having done more than simply stay.
He has a chance to leave his mark.
