AUSTIN (KXAN) – When the young athletes gather at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Austin and they look up to see their well-known coach, they often have some questions.
“Sometimes the kids are excited about me scoring five touchdowns, fantasy football, legend, Madden,” said Jamaal Charles. “A lot of people say they played with me in Madden.”
Charles is a Texas football legend who helped the Longhorns to their last national championship in 2005. He also went on to amass more than 10,000 all-purpose yards in his 11-year NFL career.
In the summer, Charles comes back to Austin and hosts a camp for local youth. It’s clear from watching him interact with the kids how much he cherishes those moments.
“Just seeing the kids’ faces, seeing the smiles. Seeing them talk trash to me … that’s some of the things that bring me back to my childhood.”
The 20th anniversary of the 2005 national championship team is coming up. Charles, a freshman on that team, looks back on that memory fondly.
“I feel like I’m old when I hear that … it’s something that really changed my life,” he said. “I feel like that’s the only thing I won in life on that type of level, being a part of a national championship 20 years ago with some of the greatest players I ever played with in college history.”
The legendary running back always reps his college with pride. The Longhorns have continued the tradition of churning out backfield talent as of late with names like Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson, Jonathon Brooks and Jaydon Blue.
This season, CJ Baxter is expected to lead the running back room after missing the 2024 season with a torn ACL. As Baxter heads into his junior season, he has a fan in Charles.
“He’s very down to earth. He’s very humble … all the UT kids are humble, and they like being around former players and they’re trying to become something great like we were at that time,” he said.