Despite making a lot of big plays, especially as a true freshman in 2019, junior wide receiver Giles Jackson has decided that continuing his career elsewhere is the best move for himself.
As a rookie, Jackson had a 97-yard kick return touchdown against Maryland, a 22-yard touchdown run against Ohio State and a 50-yard catch against Indiana. He was a big play waiting to happen and looked like a future star for the Wolverines. Last year however, he had just 17 touches on offense over the course of five games and didn't score, but did take a kick back 95 yards for a touchdown against Rutgers. With a clearly smaller role in 2020, it looked like that role might shrink even more in 2021.
Here's what we know...
Rumors began to swirl last week that Jackson may be thinking about leaving. Upon doing some digging, Wolverine Digest learned from players on the team that as of Wednesday, March 24, he was still practicing with the team despite having cleared out his locker and discussing leaving with his friends and teammates. With some uncertainty surrounding his status due to the optics of a cleared out locker while still participating in spring football, we decided to reach out to his mother, Gilda Nunley-Jackson, to see if she had any insight.
"It's a rumor," she said. "He's not happy with a few things, but he's not going anywhere."
With that kind of response, we decided to wait and see before publishing the possibility of a transfer that may not happen. After all, issues can be rectified and situations can change in an instant during spring football. Obviously, neither of those things happened.
What it means...
From some of the same sources that confirmed that Jackson had cleared out his locker but was still practicing, the speedy California product had been passed by younger receivers Roman Wilson and AJ Henning. Regular contributors Ronnie Bell and Cornelius Johnson also had been receiving a lot more first-team reps than Jackson.
Thoughts...
Jackson reportedly had been pushed down the depth chart, but I still see this is a pretty big loss. I don't understand how a player can go from being one of the most electric athletes on the field as a true freshman to someone who won't contribute as a junior. How can this guy...
...suddenly not be good enough to get some touches? After that play, Pro Football Focus said simply, "Giles Jackson is just faster than every other player on the field." Maybe he's not on said field for every snap as a traditional wide receiver, but you have to find ways to get the ball to a guy like that.
I know Wilson and Henning are both fast, and I know that Bell and Johnson fill the more traditional receiver roles, but this still feels like another case of wasted talent. During his two seasons at Michigan, Jackson had more explosive plays than anyone else on the roster, and now he's gone. He should've been the poster boy for Speed in Space and instead he's taking those abilities elsewhere.
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