With a pandemic-inflated roster of about 140 bodies, it was inevitable that certain Washington State football players would need to assume new roles this season.
It turns out two of them of them are wily seniors — graduate students, in fact.
Calvin Jackson Jr. is moving from outside receiver to slotback, and George Hicks III from cornerback to safety. The Cougars have scheduled a closed workout today at their indoor practice facility and will stage their first preseason scrimmage at about 10 a.m. Saturday at Gesa Field.
Jackson and Hicks are two of nine WSU players (including grad transfer Jarrett Guarantano) capitalizing on the NCAA’s decision last year to grant 2020 seniors an extra year of eligibility because of the coronavirus pandemic.
For Jackson, the hop inside to slot is the latest twist in a career that included two years at notorious Independence Community College in Kansas — featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U.” — and an injury that sidelined him for much of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Jackson, who has 38 career receptions as a Cougar, not only is learning a new position, he’s still transitioning from the Air Raid offense of former WSU coach Mike Leach to the run-and-shoot of second-year coach Nick Rolovich. But with his polished route-running and physical vitals (5-foot-10, 194 pounds, obvious quickness), the move inside makes sense.
“I love it,” Jackson said early this week. “It’s a little bit different, a lot more things I need to learn, but where I come from I played a lot of slot.”
The move was prompted partly by a season-ending ACL tear to prolific slotback Renard Bell, who’s been peppering Jackson with advice during the first six days of camp. The same goes for another senior inside receiver, Travell Harris, who’s nursing an unspecified minor injury, and for co-offensive coordinator Brian Stutzmann.
“(Against) certain coverages, you have to run a certain route at a certain depth, and coach Stutz is real strict on running routes to a certain depth,” Jackson said. “Paying attention to those kinds of things is very important in this offense.”
Hicks has started 13 games the past four years at cornerback, but an influx of talented players at that position the past couple of years created a dilemma for coaches. So Hicks is now a safety.
“It’s been a smooth transition,” he said. “Coaches mentioned it to me early in the spring, so I was looking out for it. It’s something that can help the team win. That’s what I’m here to do, is win games.”
The idea, he said, is to provide the support he expected from safeties when he played corner.
“Just try to make as many guys right (as I can),” he said, “because I know coming from corner, you rely on the safety when he’s supposed to be there. Not only the corners but the linebackers and nickels — everyone. When they expect help, I need to be there for them.”
Pac-12 formalizes forfeit policy
As expected, the Pac-12 announced that teams that can’t play a conference game because of a COVID-19 outbreak must accept a forfeit.
Last year, such games were declared a no-contest.
The decision puts extra pressure on Rolovich to get vaccinated. To this point he has refused.
Lucas makes another watch list
Cougars offensive tackle Abe Lucas was named to the watch list for the Senior Bowl, a postseason all-star game.
Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.
