The booming voice on the other end of the line left no doubt who was calling.
“What up, Freak?” the caller said as soon as Keith Jackson picked up his phone late in the summer of 1988.
That thunderous voice belonged to John Blake.
Jackson was an NFL rookie when that call came, doubting himself a bit despite his successes at OU.
“I promise you, they ain’t ready for you,” Blake told Jackson. “I promise you. I looked at the team, Freak. Nobody can run like you, nobody can jump like you.”
Before every game that season, Jackson’s phone rang with a call of encouragement from Blake.