It was on the news this week that EA Sports announced that not only will Jackson return to the field as he hasn't played ever since Madden NFL 15 and he'll also receive the honor of becoming an official Madden cover player. Nearly 35 years after his NFL career started in 1987, Jackson can be seen on a digital cover of Madden NFL 22. From Friday, players are once more capable of playing with him virtually. EA Sports also teamed up with Nike to Mut 22 coins recreate the sportswear company's famous Bo Knows ad campaign by using a digitally rendered image of his signature shoes known as the Nike Air Bo Turf which is incorporated into the game.

Jackson will be the seven running backs to have been named a Madden cover athlete, following Eddie George (Madden 2001), Marshall Faulk (Madden 2003), Shaun Alexander (Madden 2007), Peyton Hillis (Madden 12), Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders (both Madden 25).

Prior to the unveiling of the cover, the Undefeated's Aaron Dodson caught up with Jackson to talk about the Tecmo Bowl days, how Bo Knows came to life in his Madden return, and much more.

This conversation has been edited to improve clarity and to length.

What does it mean for you to finally become an athlete who covers the game, 35 years after the time your career started?

This has been in preparation for a long time. It was time to get it suitable for my business. I worked with the Madden people to buy Madden 22 coins get things sorted out, complete all the i's cross all the t's -when we had that done, everything else was just going for it. I realized that somewhere in my life I had done something right to be seen as one of the iconic athletes of more than 30 years ago. Madden believes that enough of me to think of doing something like this.