Inside The Huskies

Elijah Jackson, the Forgotten Man, Leaves UW for Transfer Portal

The cornerback went from Sugar Bowl hero to a seven-game reserve this season.

Dan Raley

Huskies cornerbacks Elijah Jackson (25) and Thaddeus Dixon (9) watch Michigan celebrate a national championship victory.
Huskies cornerbacks Elijah Jackson (25) and Thaddeus Dixon (9) watch Michigan celebrate a national championship victory. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

No one had to be more disappointed in the University of Washington's post-national runner-up season than Elijah Jackson.

With the coaching change, the veteran cornerback from Carson, California, went from 15-game starter to seven-game substitute.

Almost overnight, Jackson turned from Sugar Bowl hero -- knocking down a last-ditch Texas pass in the end zone to preserve a 37-31 victory -- to practically forgotten in the Husky secondary.

Elijah Jackson times his leap perfectly to knock away a Texas end zone pass to close out the Sugar Bowl.
Elijah Jackson times his leap perfectly to knock away a Texas end zone pass to close out the Sugar Bowl. / Skylar Lin Visuals

His demotion was heightened by the fact he was one of just two UW starters coming back from the CFP title game played 12 months ago, a number of returnees so low it was unthinkable that he couldn't hang onto his job.

For that very reason, Jackson seemed like one of the Huskies' likeliest candidates for the transfer portal and on Wednesday he made the move, disappearing from the UW roster and pulling himself out of the Sun Bowl game on New Year's Eve against Louisville. Injured, he didn't appear in four of his team's last five games.

To make matters worse, Jackson's lesser role had nothing to do with Jedd Fisch and his coaching staff simply coming in and showing preference for for one of their own from Arizona or another portal acquisition.

They merely made a decision regarding holdover talent that had to hit at the core of how Jackson envisioned himself.

In 2023, Kalen DeBoer's UW staff concluded that the 6-foot-1, 193-pound corner was better than Thaddeus Dixon and used them accordingly in that order on game day.

However, Fisch's coaches took one look at those two and reversed them almost immediately during spring football practice, consequently telling Jackson that he wasn't better than Dixon after all, that they saw holes in his coverage abilities.

Jackson exits the UW after five seasons in which he started 17 games overall and collected 88 tackles, 7 pass break-ups and 3 forced fumbles.

Most telling, however, is while he can show off a Sugar Bowl ring rightfully earned, he leaves Montlake without a career nterception.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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