Giles Jackson Has Been Perfect Player So Far for UW

The wide receiver has caught all 16 balls thrown his way this season.

Will Rogers and Giles Jackson greet each other after another pass completion. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Wide receiver Giles Jackson is pitching a perfect game so far -- he's had 16 footballs thrown his way in two games and he's caught every one of them.

Five miles away, Mariners baseball pitcher Brian Woo can relate to that perfection feat after retiring the first 19 San Diego Padres batters he faced on Wednesday night before giving up a hit.

The difference is the 5-foot-9, 187-pound Jackson gets hit on every play and keeps coming back for more.

"It's great to have a 100 percent catch rate on targets -- that's exceptional," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "Hopefuly we can continue that and hopefully he can hit a fantastic milestone in catches and yards and all those great things."

Jackson, who played his first two seasons at Michigan before coming to the UW for four, currently ranks tied for 10th in the nation with 8 catches per game.

He's always done things in bunches. While playing for the Wolverines, he returned a pair of kickoffs 95 and 97 yards for touchdowns in 2019 and 2020, one of the few players nationwide to go the distance during that stretch multiple times.

With his 16 catches in two outings -- with a career-high 10 coming in the opener against Weber State -- Jackson already has exceeded his receiving totals in four of his five previous seasons. He's caught 9, 15, 8, 28 and 14 passes in his career, largely used as a reserve at both schools.

But that was then and this is now where the product of Antioch, California, is a full-fledged starter for the first time, lining up in the slot.

He's been a trusted member of the offense so far as shown by him and Rogers hooking up on a risky 29-yard completion in a fourth-and-1 situation from the Husky 30 that began as a short toss on a play-action call.

Will Rogers aims one for Giles Jackson on a risky fourth-and-1 play in the second quarter against Eastern Michigan. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Jackson has rung up 164 receiving yards this season, but he hasn't scored yet, at least a touchdown that counts. In last weekend's 30-9 win over Eastern Michigan, he took a Rogers pass in the flat and raced 42 yards to reach the end zone midway through the third quarter only to have it wiped out by a holding penalty called on offensive guard Gaard Memmelaar.

"Giles has done great and he's very reliable," Fisch said, "and we're really counting on him to continue in that regard."

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