EAGAN — On the first day of Minnesota Vikings training camp (and one of the hottest days of the year), Trishton Jackson was in among the final handful of players to leave the practice field. Along with KJ Osborn and rookie Cephus Johnson, Jackson stayed around to get more reps on the Jugs machine, catching rocket after rocket at close range on the empty field at TCO Performance Center.
Since arriving at training camp last year, all Jackson has done is catch everything that comes his way. He won a practice squad job over former draft pick Ihmir Smith-Marsette and then showed out during OTAs and minicamp this year when Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison weren’t practicing. On Day 1 of 2023 camp on Wednesday, Jackson made the catch of the day, sliding to grab a deep throw from Nick Mullens into double coverage.
“I’m a playmaker,” Jackson told Purple Insider after practice.
The young receiver noted that he channels his basketball background when it comes to making high-difficulty catches and you can see basketball talent in the way he moves. In high school, Jackson averaged 22.5 points per game as a junior and was named to MLive.com’s Detroit “Dream Team” as a senior. But despite his natural ball-tracking ability, Jackson has taken a long road to the point where he’s competing for a roster spot with the Vikings. He first attended Michigan State, where he struggled to get opportunities, only catching 12 passes for 143 yards as a sophomore. So he transferred to Syracuse and had to sit out a year due to the old NCAA transfer rules. With the Orange, Jackson flashed his potential, playing a total of 13 games, catching 69 passes for 1,050 yards and 12 touchdowns and setting the record for most receiving yards by a junior in school history.
Following his breakout junior year, he decided to go pro but went undrafted. He signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an UDFA in 2020. The following season, Jackson was part of L.A.’s final cuts. It’s ironic that he was signed to the practice squad by the Vikings in early September 2021 because a year later his former offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell would show up in Minnesota as the Vikings’ new head coach. That gave him an instant advantage considering the challenges that KOC’s offense creates for receivers.
“The hardest thing is knowing every position,” Jackson said. “We play a big part of the offense in the run game and the passing game so it’s marrying both of them and learning every position to do so. Staying book heavy in the run and pass game, lining up everywhere across the field, cut splits, max splits, it can get confusing to some people.”
Jackson, who turned 25 in March, helped bring along the other receivers in the room last year. The more he helped teach everyone how O’Connell wanted things, the better he learned himself. Coming into Year 2, he said everyone is marching to “one beat” and they can all assist rookie Jordan Addison.
But that doesn’t mean Jackson considers himself completely comfortable with the offense in this year’s camp. He views his football knowledge as always growing and ever-evolving.
“I want to be always learning, always asking questions, always in Kevin’s ear and Keenan McCardell, even JJ and KJ knowing that they’ve been through the offense actually playing,” Jackson said. “It’s always learning and trying to get better so I can be in the conversation and be more confident.”
Jackson has shown his confidence from the start of the spring until and he is in the conversation with a number of other receivers including veterans Jalen Reagor and Brandon Powell for a spot on the 53-man roster. He understands that this is his chance — maybe the best one he will get in the NFL to land a spot — and whether he can hold off the other receivers for a position on the depth chart will depend on consistently using his playmaking skills day after day in practice and during the preseason games.
“When my number is called take advantage of every opportunity and just make plays,” Jackson said. “When the ball goes in the air, I say it’s 80-20, 70-30 that I’m coming down with it… they expect me to come down with it every time so that’s what I look forward to doing every day.”
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