Before any football game, there is always that special moment when the entire arena stands for the national anthem. Sometimes, it’s a recording of “The Star Spangled Banner,” and other times, the school band plays it. In the video below, however, you’ll see a defensive end at Arundel High School in Maryland take the microphone for a performance of the national anthem that nobody will forget!

Before his team’s game against Chesapeake, Jackson Dean Nicholson walked up to the microphone with his guitar and showed the world just how talented he is! He has always loved music, so he did not hesitate to volunteer when he got the opportunity to sing the anthem.

“I was always drawn to music,” he said.

Though Jackson has sung in front of an audience of this size before, he was a bit more nervous this time since he knew that he was being filmed.

“I’m not really nervous when I have to sing in front of people,” he admitted. “First five times you do it, the butterflies just go away. It’s all good after that. We knew we were going to videotape it, and I think I was more anxious about that.”

Marci White McElhaney uploaded the video to Facebook, and it immediately went viral!

“Social media’s been growing every day,” Jackson said. “Since the video’s been out, we got like 200 followers in the last 48 hours. Facebook’s been going. I’m not really big on Twitter — I don’t know how to Tweet.”

Coach Jack Walsh said that his team supports Jackson’s dream of becoming a country music star as much as they can.

“We support it as much as we can, and he does a good job managing it between football and that,” the coach said. “How do you tell an 18-year-old not to chase his dreams?”

When asked if he is going to continue chasing his dreams, Jackson did not hesitate in his response.

“I’m going to go for it,” he said.

Check out his performance in the video below!