Husky Roster Review: Giles Jackson Always Represents Deep Threat

The former Michigan transfer is still waiting to break one in Montlake.

Dan Raley | May 1, 2023

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Washington Huskies

Equate Giles Jackson's phone bill to his two-year University of Washington football career and there's a glaring omission.

Long-distance charges.

Transferring from Michigan for the 2021 season, the 5-foot-9, 176-pound wide receiver/kick returner brought with him a scintillating Big Ten resume offering all sorts of possibilities for scoring lightning-rod touchdowns from Lake Union to Lake Washington.

Instead, he's kept it short and sweet.

As he heads into his third and final Husky campaign, Jackson is still waiting to break one, to pull everyone out of their seats in Montlake, to fire up and shut down the after-burners.

Going down the roster from No. 0 to 99, Jackson is first up in a series of profiles about each of the Huskies' scholarship players and assorted walk-ons, summing up their spring football performances and surmising what might come next for them.

Forty-three.

This number represents Jackson's longest yardage outburst with a football in hands for the UW, coming in 2021 against Oregon on a third-quarter kickoff return that set up the Huskies on their own 45.

No one, least of Jackson, likely will be satisfied unless he doubles that digit this season.

Doesn't matter how: receiving, rushing or returning.

He's fully capable of running the length of the field.

After transferring from Michigan, Giles Jackson became possibly the first UW player in program history to wear No. 0, with the NCAA relaxing its rules on its use.

Giles Jackson zips in and out of practice dummies to catch a pass in spring ball.

A superb kick returner in the Big Ten, Giles Jackson has had 51 runbacks for the Huskies, with a 43-yarder against Oregon his longest in Montlake.

STRETCHING HIS LEGS / Skylar Lin Visuals

In Dempsey Indoor, Giles Jackson puts a teammate through stretching exercises that came a half hour into each spring practice.

Giles Jackson pulls in a pass as he's about to get hit from behind by wide-receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, wielding a arm pad.

Giles Jackson gets behind Husky hybrid defensive back Mishael Powell to haul in a pass in the final spring football scrimmage.

Giles Jackson shows off his receiver skills to fellow wideout Taj Davis on a sunny spring day in Husky Stadium.

At Michigan, Jackson raced 95 and 97 yards to score on kickoff returns against Rutgers and Maryland, respectively.

This past season, the Huskies had four different players score on pass receptions from 61 to 84 yards. Jackson was not one of them.

He had to be content with a 27-yard catch for his season long that didn't find the end zone.

At midseason, Jackson actually scored his one and only Husky TD, finding the end zone on a 21-yard reception to close out a 40-22 victory over Stanford.

He's hardly been a disappointment since coming to Seattle; it's just that two coaching staffs haven't been able to fully unleash him and benefit with a back-breaking dash downfield.

In spring ball, Jackson was as productive as ever, rotating in and out with a receiving corps that's as deep as anywhere in the country.

Coach Kalen DeBoer praised his efforts following the first two spring scrimmages. He didn't seem the least bit concerned about Jackson not getting out and stretching his legs. In fact, DeBoer was satisfied with how the California native was difficult enough to tackle in closed-in space.

As for that long overdue long one, the coach seemed to think it wasn't far off.

"I'm sure he's going to hit one for us," DeBoer said, "sooner or later."

GILES JACKSON FILE

Service: Jackson has appeared in all 25 games held in his time at the UW, starting eight of them as an injury fill-in or by lining up in a strategic formation requiring his presence.

Stats: He has 84 touches overall for the Huskies. His two-year stats are as follows: 36 catches for 415 yards and a TD; 17 rushes for 93 yards; 34 kickoff returns for 754 yards, a 22.2 average; and 17 punt returns for 126 yards, a 7.4 average. He also has 2 tackles on special-teams coverage.

Role: Jackson will come off the bench once more, but he'll be a well-utilized player. He's a more disciplined route runner under the direction of the current coaching staff after coming in with Jimmy Lake's crew. He has good hands. And, yes, he could go the distance at any time.

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Published May 1, 2023

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.