Photo: Reginald Jackson leads GSU with 20 catches for 291 yards and three touchdowns.
By Nick Deriso, The News Star
GRAMBLING — Senior Grambling receiver Clyde Edwards, as his coaches like to say, is a marked man. That's meant an already-remarkable start for unheralded fellow senior Reginald Jackson.
Three games into this new season, Jackson is suddenly GSU's leading receiver for catches, total yards and yards per game.
"I'm finally getting a chance to showcase myself," Jackson said. "Clyde draws a whole lot of attention from defenses. The respect he gets, opens up things for me."
Always a standout in practice, Jackson has long labored in quiet obscurity behind record-smashing GSU products like Moses Harris and Henry Tolbert.
Jackson's career totals barely register: No catches as a freshman, seven as a sophomore (though three were for scores) and 12 as a junior. He'd caught just four touchdowns coming into 2007.
Even so, a new staff at GSU saw something in him that others perhaps hadn't.
"Reggie was good in the spring, he's been good since we've been here," said first-year coach Rod Broadway. "Everybody knows about Clyde; he's a marked man. So we had to find a couple more guys to get involved. We've got to spread it around."
Through it all, Jackson somehow remained focused and ready.
"You've got to stay humble, but you stay hungry at the same time," he said. "Other players had their chances. You've got to keep continuing to tell yourself that your chance will also come. When it was my time, I told myself that I would make the best of it."
He has.
In fact, "he might be stealing the show," as Edwards conceded.
Jackson scored the first touchdown of the Broadway era in Week 1, dashing 44 yards against Alcorn. Jackson then capped a six-play third-quarter drive with a stunning 69-yard TD in a blow out victory.
He added five catches a week later, though Grambling fell at upper-division Pittsburgh.
Then Jackson sparked an emotional win in last Saturday's game against reigning league champ Alabama A&M with a trick-play touchdown from 26 yards out.
"Everyday in practice, I kept saying we are going to score on this," Jackson said. "I was thinking 'six' the whole time."
It was.
A&M, which came into the game averaging 45 points a game, never scored again on the way to a 25-point loss to Grambling.
Jackson's backbreaking touchdown had a lot to do with that.
"At that point, once the other team gets hit with a play like that, it takes the swagger and the fight out of them," said Jackson, who then finished the scoring with a seven-yard TD.
Teammates say it was only a matter of time before Jackson's star rose.
"Coming into this year, we had to find another receiver, somebody to compliment Clyde," said redshirt junior quarterback Brandon Landers. "He brings that deceptive speed — people underestimate that — and he catches the ball well. He's taking advantage of his final year to shine."
Edwards, meanwhile, sits on the cusp of besting career marks across the Grambling receiving record book. He also sees Jackson as the wingman who can help pilot him there.
"I'm happy for him," Edwards said. "He's always practiced well, but hasn't always gotten the opportunity to perform on Saturdays. This year, he's finally in a situation where he can make some plays."
The 5-9, 170-pound Jackson, whose nickname is "Dee," was a celebrated Birmingham, Ala., recruit after being named all-city as a junior and senior. He considered at least four SWAC schools along with Alabama-Birmingham before becoming a member of one of former coach Doug Williams' last signing classes at GSU.
That followed a final prep season where Jackson scored on five receptions, three punt returns and a kickoff, helping his team to a 10-2 record at Parker High — a legendary Grambling recruiting stronghold that has produced Tolbert, Robert Taylor, Junious "Buck" Buchanan and his former high school coach Andre Robinson, who now oversees linebackers at GSU.
Could Jackson add his name to that list of Grambling greats? He's making a case so far this season.
A career spent waiting on the sidelines has put that goal into tight focus.
"You want to play every game like it's your last," Jackson said. "Every snap, every play, every quarter, I want to take that opportunity," Jackson said. "I want to fulfill every one of those dreams."
GRAMBLING — Senior Grambling receiver Clyde Edwards, as his coaches like to say, is a marked man. That's meant an already-remarkable start for unheralded fellow senior Reginald Jackson.
Three games into this new season, Jackson is suddenly GSU's leading receiver for catches, total yards and yards per game.
"I'm finally getting a chance to showcase myself," Jackson said. "Clyde draws a whole lot of attention from defenses. The respect he gets, opens up things for me."
Always a standout in practice, Jackson has long labored in quiet obscurity behind record-smashing GSU products like Moses Harris and Henry Tolbert.
Jackson's career totals barely register: No catches as a freshman, seven as a sophomore (though three were for scores) and 12 as a junior. He'd caught just four touchdowns coming into 2007.
Even so, a new staff at GSU saw something in him that others perhaps hadn't.
"Reggie was good in the spring, he's been good since we've been here," said first-year coach Rod Broadway. "Everybody knows about Clyde; he's a marked man. So we had to find a couple more guys to get involved. We've got to spread it around."
Through it all, Jackson somehow remained focused and ready.
"You've got to stay humble, but you stay hungry at the same time," he said. "Other players had their chances. You've got to keep continuing to tell yourself that your chance will also come. When it was my time, I told myself that I would make the best of it."
He has.
In fact, "he might be stealing the show," as Edwards conceded.
Jackson scored the first touchdown of the Broadway era in Week 1, dashing 44 yards against Alcorn. Jackson then capped a six-play third-quarter drive with a stunning 69-yard TD in a blow out victory.
He added five catches a week later, though Grambling fell at upper-division Pittsburgh.
Then Jackson sparked an emotional win in last Saturday's game against reigning league champ Alabama A&M with a trick-play touchdown from 26 yards out.
"Everyday in practice, I kept saying we are going to score on this," Jackson said. "I was thinking 'six' the whole time."
It was.
A&M, which came into the game averaging 45 points a game, never scored again on the way to a 25-point loss to Grambling.
Jackson's backbreaking touchdown had a lot to do with that.
"At that point, once the other team gets hit with a play like that, it takes the swagger and the fight out of them," said Jackson, who then finished the scoring with a seven-yard TD.
Teammates say it was only a matter of time before Jackson's star rose.
"Coming into this year, we had to find another receiver, somebody to compliment Clyde," said redshirt junior quarterback Brandon Landers. "He brings that deceptive speed — people underestimate that — and he catches the ball well. He's taking advantage of his final year to shine."
Edwards, meanwhile, sits on the cusp of besting career marks across the Grambling receiving record book. He also sees Jackson as the wingman who can help pilot him there.
"I'm happy for him," Edwards said. "He's always practiced well, but hasn't always gotten the opportunity to perform on Saturdays. This year, he's finally in a situation where he can make some plays."
The 5-9, 170-pound Jackson, whose nickname is "Dee," was a celebrated Birmingham, Ala., recruit after being named all-city as a junior and senior. He considered at least four SWAC schools along with Alabama-Birmingham before becoming a member of one of former coach Doug Williams' last signing classes at GSU.
That followed a final prep season where Jackson scored on five receptions, three punt returns and a kickoff, helping his team to a 10-2 record at Parker High — a legendary Grambling recruiting stronghold that has produced Tolbert, Robert Taylor, Junious "Buck" Buchanan and his former high school coach Andre Robinson, who now oversees linebackers at GSU.
Could Jackson add his name to that list of Grambling greats? He's making a case so far this season.
A career spent waiting on the sidelines has put that goal into tight focus.
"You want to play every game like it's your last," Jackson said. "Every snap, every play, every quarter, I want to take that opportunity," Jackson said. "I want to fulfill every one of those dreams."
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