UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: Jackson Offered Spring Playmaking Glimpse
A combined 65 passes zipped through the air for both sides in the University of Washington spring football game, and 37 were completions to targeted receivers.
One was intercepted.
With all of those heavily recruited safeties and cornerbacks roaming the field that day, a singular pass ended up in the hands of an opportunistic Husky defender — Elijah Jackson.
On the third series of the springtime matchup, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound freshman cornerback from Carson, California, cut in front of tight end Devin Culp near the right hashmark, reached up high and stole a Patrick O'Brien pass.
Jackson took off running across the artificial surface and went up the other sideline. He didn't stop until getting pushed out of bounds, a little too aggressively by offensive tackle Matteo Mele the officials determined, and another 13 yards were tacked on to the end of his 22-yard return.
Three plays later, the Purple team put the spring game's first touchdown on the board, on a 7-yard pass from Dylan Morris to tight end Cade Otton, compliments of that heads-up turnover.
Maybe more importantly, Jackson, one of two guys who wears No. 25 with running back Caleb Berry the other, introduced himself to the fan base as a guy coming hard through the ranks.
Husky coach Jimmy Lake confirmed as much when later quizzed about the young pass defender, name-dropping as he sized up the corner's game.
"I'm very proud of Elijah," the UW coach said. "He's an extremely hard worker and wants to learn the next thing. He reminds me a lot of Sidney Jones, how Sidney Jones was as a freshman. I'm very excited about his speed, his agility, the way he's playing faster now. He still has to play faster."
Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.
For now, Jackson is a backup cornerback, waiting for other secondary luminaries such as Trent McDuffie, Kyler Gordon and Bookie Radley-Hiles to finish up their collegiate obligations and turn pro.
It shouldn't be long and Lake fully expects this Jackson to slide right into the Husky lineup when it's time and be ready to go.
Over the past half century, the Huskies have had a number of guys with his last name who turned into huge contributors, foremost among them inside linebacker Michael Jackson, running back Ron "Cookie" Jackson, noseguard Charles Jackson and cornerback Vestee Jackson.
By all accounts, Elijah Jackson has a chance to run with that elite crowd, as well as the current one.
"I really believe he'll end up being one of our next corners after those two starters, with Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon, and you'll see him mixing in there in that battle to play corner or to be the third corner when we get into our special packages," Lake said. "He's right on track."
Jackson's 2021 Outlook: Projected backup cornerback
UW Service Time: None
Stats: None
Individual Honors: None
Pro prospects: 2025 NFL second-day draftee
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