We're Still Waiting to See Jackson Go the Distance On a Kick Return

After taking stock of their first University of Washington football season, Kalen DeBoer's coaches checked off nearly every box when it came to making something happen to get into the end zone.

Long touchdown passes. Plenty of scoring runs. Trick plays that worked flawlessly.

Yet it's been two Husky coaching staffs now and we still haven't seen Giles Jackson go the distance with a kick return. 

He's the guy who scored on 95- and 97-yard kickoff runbacks at Michigan and presumably has the speed to run from Montlake Boulevard to Lake Washington in the blink of an eye at any given time. 

No doubt, DeBoer's staff, between winter workouts and the next recruiting cycle, is plotting different ways to put the 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior from Antioch, California, into the open field and waving goodbye at helpless opponents as he runs by them.

Or maybe not.

When the new coaches took over, much was made of getting Jackson more involved with the Husky offense — and they did just that.

Jackson played in all 13 games and started five of them as the DeBoer staff preferred to open games in different formations and keep the defenses guessing at all times.

He finished as the Huskies' sixth-leading receiver with 28 catches for 328 yards and his first UW touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Michael Penix Jr. against Stanford.

Jackson likewise finished as the team's sixth-leading rusher with 9 carries for 48 yards, on fly sweeps or misdirection plays, with a long run of 18 yards.

However, the Huskies couldn't bust him loose on a memorable long one on special teams. 

He returned a team-high 15 kickoffs last season, averaging 20.8 per runback, with a long of 33 yards. He also had a team-best 5 punt returns, averaging 17.5 yards per runback, with a long of 16 yards.

Yet by the end of the season, Jackson was either rotating in those roles or had been replaced by Cam Davis on kickoff returns and Jalen McMillan on punt returns. Four different players handled UW kickoff returns and four ran back punts.

Maybe Jackson wasn't 100 percent and let healthier teammates take over on occasion. Maybe special-team runbacks are no longer his speciality. Or maybe he simply has to share these chores. 

Either way, DeBoer's point-producing style is to hit an opposing team hard and fast so it can't recover, and what better way to do this than with Jackson navigating a 90-plus sprint to the end zone. 

The Huskies haven't had a punt return for a score since Aaron Fuller went 88 yards against BYU in 2019, and a kickoff runback cross the goal line since John Ross raced 92 yards against Rutgers in 2016.  

Jackson has a nice resume from the Big Ten that says he can change a game in an instant. He can bring Husky fans to their feet as his begin to pick up speed. 

Here's thinking DeBoer and Company won't let another season go by without getting Jackson out in the express lanes. 

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