COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ja’Kobi Jackson arrived at Ohio State without much fanfare over the winter.
Head coach Ryan Day brought in a larger-than-usual (for Ohio State) transfer class with players at just about every position, and Jackson was projected more likely to be third string behind sophomore Isaiah West than to push returning 1,000-yard rusher Bo Jackson for No. 1 carries.
Nonetheless, Ja’Kobi Jackson is second on the team in carries (21) and rushing yards (150) after three games, and the Florida transfer leads seventh-ranked Ohio State in yards per carry (7.1) and touchdown runs (four) — just like he expected.
“Yes, sir, it’s definitely what I envisioned, and hopefully the role can continue to grow,” he said Tuesday.
That comes with its pros and cons, though, and Tuesday afternoon brought one of the latter as the senior fielded questions from the media about why Ohio State is 79th in the nation in rushing yards per game (158.7) and struggling to produce big plays on the ground.
“All our film sessions are tough, but, yeah, this one had a little more kick to it,” Ja’Kobi Jackson said. “I would just say that’s what you expect when you come to the Ohio State University.
“Our coaches are harping on us about (about) doing the little things right and being able to read the blocks and press the holes, so that’s just what we got to continue to do.”
The road to Columbus was long for Jackson, who spent three seasons at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale, Mississippi, after graduating from Pensacola (Florida) Catholic High School in 2020.
He spent three seasons at Florida but was never the feature back, amassing 122 carries for 607 yards for the Gators before sustaining a season-ending injury last fall that allowed him to get a medical redshirt for one more year of eligibility.
At Ohio State, he has shown a nose for the end zone, picking his way through traffic for a touchdown in the first quarter at Texas in a Week 2 loss and bulling in from a yard out last week against the Golden Flashes.
The latter came on a second attempt after he tripped over a teammate’s foot.
“Yeah, it’s just life,” Jackson said. “You got to just get right back up, and I was glad that coach was able to let me run it in the next play.”
Though it had a happy ending, the sequence also served to represent the Ohio State running game overall so far this season: The job got done, but not as efficiently as possible.
Overall, Day said he wants to see all the backs “run angry” this week when Illinois comes to town for the Big Ten opener for both teams.
“I thought we had some really good big holes in the (Kent State) game, and those should have been explosive plays and they weren’t, but those guys know that,” Day said. “They’re challenged. They own it, so we’ve got to have a good week of practice, and we’ve got to make sure we’re practicing some of those situations. Not that we haven’t done it. It was a huge emphasis in the offseason, so it needs to show up here against Illinois.”
That sounded like something the 219-pound Jackson was not afraid to embrace.
“Running angry really just looks like not being tackled one-on-one in the open field and making the first guy miss — not being tackled by the first guy,” Jackson said. “That’s what I would say running angry would be.”
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