Jerry Rice remains in the corner of his pupil DeSean Jackson

For those whom do not know, while he prepared for the 2008 NFL draft, then-Cal wide receiver DeSean Jackson was mentored by the greatest wide receiver who ever live: Jerry Rice.

"He has all the talent in the world," Rice said about Jackson before last years NFL draft. "There's no reason he can't be everything he wants to be at the next level."

Now with his pupil in his second season with the Philadelphia Eagles, Rice is still very much in the corner of the explosive young receiver from Cal.

"He's a good guy and when he sees me doing things on Sundays, he definitely calls me and congratulates me and things like that. It's a pretty good relationship," Jackson tells Jordan Raanan of CSNPhilly.com. "He knows my talent and stuff, so he's definitely confident. He knows what I'm capable of doing."

When he was playing, Rice was the opposite type of receiver that Jackson currently is. Jerry Rice was known for his route running and good hands, while Jackson does have good hands and is a pretty good route runner, he is mostly known for his blazing-fast speed.

Some have knocked DeSean Jackson prior to the NFL draft, calling him unprofessional and stating that he has a poor work ethic, which is why he wasn't draft earlier then during the second round, 49th overall. But I say thank God for the rumors and the doubts in him, because if it wasn't for them he may not be a Philadelphia Eagle today.

And they were rumors, because I doubt someone who is unprofessional and who has a poor work ethic would call up one of the hardest working, most professional players that ever played at his position to train and mentor him. The fact that he sought out Jerry Rice tells you he was striving to work hard to become the better.

Sure he will often celebrate a little excessively and make the usual mistakes that young twenty-two year olds often make. But as the years go on and as he continues to break records, Eagles and NFL respectively. He will continue to make a path for himself with the greats, perhaps right next to his mentor.