DeSean Jackson

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DeSean Jackson
Photo: http://www.mybearterritory.com California WR DeSean Jackson in the 2006.
College	California
Conference	Pac 10
Sport	Football
Position	WR
Jersey #	1
Class	Junior
Major	Social Welfare
Career	2005 – present
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	166 lb (75 kg)
Nationality	United States
Born	December 1, 1986 (age 20) Long Beach, California
High School	Long Beach Polytechnic High School
Awards
2004 Glenn Davis Award 2005 Pete Dawkins Trophy 2006 Randy Moss Award

DeSean Jackson (born December 1, 1986 in Long Beach, California) is an American football wide receiver and punt return specialist currently playing for the California Golden Bears.

1 Personal
2 High school career
3 College career
- 3.1 Career Statistics
  - 3.1.1 Receiving
  - 3.1.2 Punt Return
4 Exterior Links
5 References

[edit] Personal

Jackson is the son of Bill and Gayle Jackson, and has an older brother, Byron Jackson, 18 years his senior, who is a former San Jose State receiver and spent two seasons on the Kansas City Chiefs developmental squad.^[1] Jackson intends to pursue a degree in Social Welfare at Cal.

[edit] High school career

Jackson was regarded as one of the top wide receiver recruits in the nation coming out of Long Beach Polytechnic High School (Long Beach, California), with many collegiate football programs such as pursuing his services. Jackson was named the 2004 Glenn Davis Award winner by the Los Angeles Times as Southern California's player of the year.

Jackson caught 60 passes for 1,075 yards for 15 touchdowns his senior year, leading the Jack Rabbits to a CIF Southern Section championship. Showing his athleticism and versatility, he was pressed into service last minute as a defensive back in the section title game, against Los Alamitos High School, responding with two interceptions, one which he returned 68 yards for a touchdown to help fuel Long Beach Poly's 21-6 victory over the Griffins.

To cap off his high schoool career, Jackson was voted the Most Valuable Player at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, where he flagged down seven receptions for 141 yards and passed for a 45-yard touchdown in leading the West squad to a 35-3 victory in a game that featured 80 of the nation's top players. ESPN.com's Tom Lemming rated him as the No. 4 wide receiver in the country, PrepStar selected him an All-American and a member of its Dream Team Top 100 players, and Calhisports.com voted him the 2004 Mr. Football State Player of the Year. He committed to Jeff Tedford's football program at Cal, making his announcement on Southern California's Fox Sport Net West.

[edit] College career

In his first collegiate game against Sacramento State in 2005, Jackson scored both an offensive and special teams touchdown, returning a punt 49 yards for a score. Throughout his freshman season, Jackson spearheaded the Bears passing attack, picking up 38 receptions for 601 yards along with seven touchdowns. He eclipsed the 100-yard mark three times. In the Las Vegas Bowl game against Brigham Young University, Jackson tallied 130 yards and two scores.

Coming into his sophomore year with high expectations, Jackson displayed more of his talent and playmaking ability tallying 1,060 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He was also a constant threat to return any opponent punt into a highlight reel touchdown, taking four returns for a score and averaging 19.2 yards per a punt return - best in the nation. He was voted All Pac-10 first team as both a punt returner and a wide receiver. Jackson also garnered national recognition with selections to first team All-America by the Associated Press, Walter Camp Foundation, the Football Writers Association of America, the Sporting News and Rivals.com as a punt returner. Jackson also captured the inaugural Randy Moss Award as the top return man in the nation.