It took one game as a starting receiver for Shedrick Jackson to set new career-highs in receptions and yardage in a game, with five receptions and 79 yards.
"Yeah, it's been a long time coming -- just being set back by a bunch of injuries the past couple years and stuff like that," Jackson said. "Just coming back here with full capacity and everything like that in the stadium, a new offense and a new coaching staff. It was a great time."
Coming into the game, Jackson had 10 career receptions for 130 yards.
Jackson was limited with an injury in the spring and missed player-led summer practices due to classes he was taking. But, even with a new coaching staff and scheme, he was able to secure a starting spot in the fall.
"But I've always, I've always been impressed with Shedrick," Bryan Harsin said. "I think he's a leader. He has a level of maturity that makes him successful on and off the field and we get to see that every single day. And I think he'll continue. He's one of those guys who will come to work every day and give you his very best. So that consistency with him is really important."
As a wide receiver group as a whole, Harsin has stressed the need for consistency from spring practice to the end of fall camp. Against Akron, six different receivers hauled in passes and the offense was rotating quite a few different guys in and out. After the game, Harsin liked the consistency he saw from Jackson and the rest of the receivers.
"We were pretty consistent throughout the game at that position," Harsin said. "We were rotating in quite a few guys, changing personnel. We're moving guys around, and for the most part guys were lined up. We had very few -- that I can remember -- alignment issues. That's the stuff we've got to continue to do, putting ourselves in position to make the plays we did. And we did tonight. There's a foundation there we can build on, and we can look toward improving that next week."
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