Inside The Huskies

Giles Jackson Knew How to Say Hello and Good Bye to His College Career

The Husky wide receiver entered the school record book with his 4-touchdown outing at the Sun Bowl.

Dan Raley

Giles Jackson scores one of his four touchdown catches against Louisville.
Giles Jackson scores one of his four touchdown catches against Louisville. / Omar Ornelas / USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

EL PASO, Texas -- Giles Jackson always has been highly calculated in deciding the course of his college football career.

Michigan saw him almost exclusively as a kickoff returner, and he had his electrifying moments for sure in two sesons with the Wolverines with 95- and 97-yard returns for touchdowns against Rutgers and Maryland, respectively.

However, Jackson wanted much more then the occasional special-teams thrill, so he transferred to the University of Washington to broaden his receiving horizons, only to get stuck behind the NFL-bound collective of Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk, who each became starters this season as pro football rookies.

The 5-foot-9, 187-pound Jackson was encouraged by the since departed Kalen DeBoer coaching staff to out UW games last season even after overcoming a broken thumb so he could redshirt and come back in 2024 and have the Husky passing game all to himself.

Shrewd move.

On Tuesday in the Sun Bowl, Jackson finished his college career with a performance that not only rearranged the UW record book -- 11 catches for 161 yards and 4 touchdowns in the 35-34 loss to Louisville -- he showed pro scouts there is more to the recent versions of the Husky receiving corps than Odunze, McMillan and Polk.

"To end your college football career with four touchdown catches is pretty sensational," Husky coach Jedd Fisch said.

In catching scoring passes of 40, 49, 31 and 1 yard, Jackson tied the UW record for receiving TDs in a game, matching Jermaine Kearse, who hauled in four against Oregon State in 2010 before he enjoyed a productive NFL career.

His four TD catches in a bowl game set a new Husky standard, surpassing Anthony Allen, who caught three in the 1982 Aloha Bowl against Maryland for 27, 71 and 11 yards before he, too, played in the NFL.

Ever the veteran, the sixth-year senior from Antioch, California, simply shrugged when asked in the postgame interview session about his magic moment against a Louisville secondary that was unable to get a handle on him.

"It was cool to score," Jackson said, "but we still lost."

With his big outing beneath the Texas sun, Jackson finished the season with 85 catches for 893 yards and 7 scores, his combined career at Michigan and the UW with 159 receptions for 1,723 yards and 10 TDs, and with 4,041 multi-purpose yards.

Who said he was just a kick returner? The Huskies, in fact, didn't feel the need to make him do that chore anymore after he came to Montlake.

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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