Courtney Jackson: Wide Receiver Room & Wake Forest
With the departure of Taj Harris, the now unknown wide receiver room for the Orange is digging deep into their depth at the position to open the offense up. Syracuse wide receiver Courtney Jackson believes the room is deep and not many people know how deep they are at the position.
“I think we have a lot of guys in that room that the world may not know of yet,” Jackson said. “But I think they will soon.”
Although the Orange did not win, Syracuse wide receiver Courtney Jackson stepped up this past weekend against Florida State. Jackson pulled in 6 receptions for 57 yards against the Seminoles defense. The speedy slot receiver did most of his damage working into the middle of the field on play action passes from Garrett Shrader. His improvements game to game comes from his willingness this offseason to just become a better overall football player.
“I worked on everything," Jackson said. "I tried to improve in all aspects of my game as a receiver, as a blocker, as a pass catcher, as a route runner, and everything.”
Players such as Courtney Jackson and Anthony Queeley are expected to fill the void Taj Harris left at the wide receiver position. The Orange are a predominantly run team who intends on setting up their pass game with their rushing attack. Although the Orange record proves to be a winning one to date, one has to ask the question is this really the foundation to their offense.
“It’s working,” Jackson said. “The goal is to win.”
The Orange offense significantly averages more points than they did last season. This season the Orange average 30 points per game opposed to last year's miserable 18 points per game. Filling in the blanks on the offensive side of the ball is of the utmost importance if the Orange want to win games. The only certainty for the offense is the rushing attack but in order to win games against better competition a balance in both rushing and passing will allow you to win games.
With the Orange welcoming the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest into the Dome this Saturday, a challenge is expected. This being Syracuse’s second consecutive ACC matchup, the Orange look to break even with a win making their conference record 1-1. Wake Forest is coming in as the only undefeated team in the ACC at 6-0 and currently ranked #19 in the nation. The Demon Deacons pose a threat for the Orange this Saturday at 3:30p.m however with the strict rushing attack of the Orange it should be interesting to see how the Orange implement the depth driven wide receiver unit into the fold.
