Giles Jackson's Long-Winding College Football Journey Will End at Sun Bowl

The wide receiver has seen it all while playing for the Huskies and Michigan.

Giles Jackson looks on during warmups before the start of the College Football Playoff national championship game at NRG Stadium. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Picture Giles Jackson sitting at the front of a chartered bus, pulling on a brightly colored gold jacket, attaching a microphone to his lapel and giving guided tours of college football. He's seen it all. Been there, done that. Coast to coast, with or without the ball in his hands.

At the Sun Bowl in Texas, the 5-foot-9, 187-pound wide receiver will close out a six-year career that began at Michigan and will end with the University of Washington by showing up for the New Year's Eve game against Louisville as the Huskies' leading pass-catcher this season with 74 receptions for 732 yards and 3 scores.

It's all he's ever wanted -- is to be taken seriously.

At Michigan, he was mostly a novelty player, yet a lethal one, returning kickoffs 97 and 95 yards for touchdowns against Maryland and Rutgers, respectively, but not much more.

After two seasons with the Wolverines, he came to Washington to do what he does now, which is be an every-down player, run routes that impact the game and make things happen however he can.

"I'm just thankful for the opportunity, honestly," Jackson said. "I've been through a lot, been through a lot of coaching changes. I feel, for a couple years, I didn't know what I was going to do next."

Giles Jackson is shown in early pregame warm-ups with headphones and his phone. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Answering to a mostly all-star cast of coaching leaders, he's played for Jim Harbaugh, Jimmy Lake, Kalen DeBoer and now Jedd Fisch.

The Sun Bowl in El Paso, hard up against the U.S.-Mexico border, will mark his 63rd college appearance and potentially his 22nd starting assignment should he not get bumped by the UW's two tight-end formation on the opening play.

With his reliable hands and high-end speed, Jackson has touched the ball 301 times in his career from Ann Arbor to Montlake, counting catches, rushes and returns.

In his career, he has 148 catches for 1,562 yards and 6 touchdowns, 33 rushes for 183 yards and 2 scores, 71 kick off returns for 1,730 yards and 2 TDs, and 49 punt returns for 345 yards .

That's a collective 3,880 yards, where a strong finish against Louisville will put him over four bills.

Giles Jackson runs away from Oregon defenders. / Skylar Lin Visuals

On a big stage, Jackson played in front of crowds exceeding 100,000 on eight occasions when he was a Michigan freshman. It's been just twice since, in a reunion against the Wolverines in his second Husky game that provided a return to the Big House in 2021 and at Penn State last month. A turnout of 112,071 for the Michigan-Ohio State game in 2019 in Ann Arbor provided the most eyeballs that have seen him play.

Besides the normal Big Ten fare, he's faced the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame, Texas and Oregon in much anticipated match-ups. He's even faced Michigan three times since leaving there, beating the Wolverines 27-17 this season at Husky Stadium after losing to them 31-10 in 2021 and in the CFP national championship game 34-13 last January in Houston.

Demonstrating the oddities of his football travels, Jackson appeared in 20 games at the UW as a teammate to quarterback Michael Penix Jr., this after he opposed the left-hander once in 2020, losing to Penix and Indiana 38-21 during the COVID pandemic.

9/7/24: Giles Jackson (@gilesjackson05) makes the catch against Eastern Michigan and hurdles the defender on the way to a first down pic.twitter.com/FOQA7K2395

— Random UW Clips (@uwhighlights) December 26, 2024

For him, it's been a lot of lessons learned, a measure of awareness to the little things, taking on responsibility.

"Details matter," Jackson said. "Details will separate you from anybody, any time. locking in."

He's had his most catches in a game with 10 against Weber State in this year's season opener and most yards two weeks later with 162 against Washington State in the Apple Cup. He also caught a 16-yard touchdown pass against his old team, Michigan, to help seal that midseason victory.

Jackson dealt with a most difficult 2023 campaign, breaking a thumb to miss the first five games on the schedule. He returned to play against Oregon and Arizona State and sit out another game, returned a second time to play against USC and yet get held out of another outing, and returned a third time to play at Oregon State. He still wasn't done missing out on the action.

UW wide receiver Giles Jackson waits for a play to begin at Oregon. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Working with DeBoer's coaching staff, he voluntarily sat out the Apple Cup -- in order to preserve his redshirt status and enable him to return this year initially for those coaches, who saw him as a needed contributor. He finished up that season by playing in the Pac-12 championship game, the Sugar Bowl and national semifinals, and the CFP title game.

When Fisch's staff took over, all of those plans could have gone to the wayside. Yet Jackson already was well acquainted with new Husky receivers coach Kevin Cummings, who had tried to recruit him to San Jose State and given him his first college scholarship offer in Antioch, California. He knew things would work out for him this season.

When he first arrived at the UW, Jackson used to stare at a banner hanging in Dempsey Indoor, not exactly sure what it was telling him. He does now.

"I remember when I first got here, I always used to look at it -- 'the Culture is Contagious' -- and like what does that mean?" he said. "Over the years I've been here, it's a brotherhood. Everybody on the team, every year, I'm cool with them all. I'm grateful for that."

Considering where he's been and for how long, Jackson has more teammates then most college football players will ever have, including those now with him in Texas for his last Husky outing.

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