Throughout his childhood in Shaoguan, China, Jackson He did not have a deep passion for sports.
The Arizona State redshirt-junior running back, whose real name is He Peizhang, only dabbled in a few sports as a kid and being the first Chinese-born player believed to score a touchdown in an FBS game was not in the plans.
“Growing up, I did not play that much sports, but I played a little bit of ping pong,” He said. “And then I started playing basketball at like 15, 14. Something like that.”
He’s athletic trajectory changed due to his parents wanting him to have a better education in the United States. He came to the U.S. as a 17-year-old and enrolled at tiny Lutheran High School (now Victory Christian Academy) in Chula Vista, CA.
At Lutheran, a classmate’s parent approached He and told him he had the build to be a football player. With He being new to the U.S., he wanted to try unfamiliar things, so unbeknownst to his parents, he joined the team.
He struggled his first season as he was still learning how to play football, but his teammates and coaches were patient with him and taught him what he needed to know about the game, and it earned him a spot on a college football roster.
After wrapping up his high school career, He enrolled at NAIA University of Jamestown, a school of 1,136 students located in the blistering cold city of Jamestown, North Dakota.
In his first season at Jamestown in 2016, He redshirted. He then had a solid redshirt-freshman campaign where he averaged 4.4 yards per carry, scored both a rushing and receiving touchdown, and ran for 376 yards.
Despite the playing time, He did not enjoy the North Dakota temperatures and wanted to push himself to play for a bigger school.
“I wanted to challenge myself even more,” He explained.
In 2019, He enrolled at ASU and went to the football facility, and asked to join the team as a walk-on. The coaching staff requested his tape, running backs coach Shaun Aguano liked what he saw, and He joined the team.
Said to be the only Chinese-born player in college football, He dressed for the first time in ASU’s second game of the 2020 season against UCLA on Dec. 5. It was an important moment for the running back made even more special by his name being spelled in his native language on the nameplate of his jersey.
“It’s really like (an) honor to actually have my name, like my actual name on the back of my jersey,” He stated. “And that means a lot. I really appreciate the equipment room to do that for me.”
The next week in the Territorial Cup against Arizona, He had his moment. With ASU crushing its rival 63-7 late in the fourth quarter, He was inserted into the game. He carried the ball four times for seven yards on the Sun Devils’ final scoring drive of the game and scored his groundbreaking touchdown to give ASU its first 70-point game since 1969.
“It’s unreal,” He said postgame. “It’s unbelievable. It’s crazy. Like all the support from my (teammates) and the all the love from everybody on the team.”
The touchdown has made headlines worldwide and has become one of the main stories in college football. He has done numerous interviews this week, including one with ESPN’s The Wrap-Up Show.
He said his week after the score against Arizona has been “crazy,” and he has even received a message from comedian Jimmy O. Yang. The touchdown also inspired ASU co-defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce to come up with a shirt saying “Chinese can ball too” in Chinese characters.
“Coach Antonio Pierce,” He stated. “He came up with that. And it’s so cool, though.”
ASU head coach Herm Edwards spoke to the media after the Arizona game and described the emotions He’s touchdown brought to the ASU sideline.
“He’s one of our favorites and good young man, Edwards said. “Going into the game, we just felt like if we got a lead in the fourth quarter, we wanted to play young players. And I told Zak (Hill), I said hey, let’s put the guy in. It was just fun to watch all the players surround him after he scored. Obviously, he got the game ball.”
He’s touchdown caused major waves in China and Tencent Video, a streaming service with more than 900 million monthly users in China will live stream ASU’s game against Oregon State on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. MST.
While popular with the entire team, He’s best friend on the team is fellow running back Rachaad White. White, who also began his college career at a much lower level than ASU (Division II), said he bonds with He because they share a chip on the shoulder mentality.
“I would say for sure that plays a role in it,” White explained. “We both put in hard work. We both want to be great. We both want to get better each and every day. So that plays a huge role in … why (we are) so close.”
With ASU blowing out Arizona, White said the goal was to get He to the endzone, and when it happened, it was pure joy for the players on the sideline.
“It was loud,” White remarked. “A lot of guys (were) running on the field. Really didn’t care if we (were) going to get a flag or not.”
He decided to go with the English name Jackson in the United States instead of his given name. He chose Jackson because of his love for late pop star Michael Jackson’s music.
“His dance moves and his songs … I love it,” He stated.
An NFL player inspiring He is Detroit Lions star running back Adrian Peterson. He was able to meet the NFL legend last year, and the advice Peterson gave has stuck with He.
“He’s (Peterson) a really nice guy,” He said. “I told him I’m about to walk-on to Arizona State, and then he told me, ‘man, just keep working hard, man. You are going to get it.’ That motivated me a lot getting a message like that from a great player like him.”
After football, if he does return to China, He would like to try to grow the sport in his home country.
“If I go back, yeah, definitely,” He stated. “I want to push this. Chinese can ball too.”
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