Sports Illustrated cover boy Darnell Autry couldn’t do it. Neither could all-time rushing leader Damien Anderson. Tyrell Sutton, whose No. 19 jersey can still be seen all over Evanston, came up short, too.
None of those star Northwestern runners managed to reach the milestone current tailback Justin Jackson achieved on Saturday at Purdue: three straight seasons of 1,000 rushing yards.
Jackson, a junior, eclipsed the 1,000-yard barrier for the season with a touchdown run in the third quarter of the Wildcats’ 45-17 romp over the Boilermakers.
It is a testament to Jackson’s talent, as well as his durability and consistency. He shows up every day, ready to carry the ball.
And in general, the more the Wildcats stick it in his belly, the better they do.
“Trying to be out there for every game,” is how Jackson described his mindset in setting the new school record. “Be consistent and be out there for my teammates, be out there for my coaches. I want to be reliable when you give the ball to me.”
Jackson is often the only reliable thing in a Northwestern offense that has had its ups and downs this season, and throughout his three-year career.
In 2014, he gained 1,187 yards on 245 carries for an offense that ranked 12th in the Big Ten in points (23.0) and 10th in yards (353.1) per game. Then last season Jackson was the lone bright spot in an offense that finished in the Big Ten basement in scoring (19.5 points), total offense (327.1 yards) and passing (138.5 yards) per game.
Outside of giving the ball to No. 21, the Wildcats didn’t have a lot going for them. So they gave it to him. A lot. Jackson lugged the rock 312 times, third-most in the nation, on his way to 1,418 yards. In the final two games of the regular season, wins over Wisconsin and Illinois, Jackson tucked the ball under his arm 72 times as he became options A, B and C for the Wildcats.
This year, with quarterback Clayton Thorson and wide receiver Austin Carr finally providing some balance with a strong passing game, Jackson has run for 1,037 yards on 223 carries, with eight touchdowns. He is 76 yards behind Big Ten-leader Saquon Barkley.
Jackson is on pace for 1,245 yards on the season, which would give him 3,870 career yards and place him third on the all-time NU rushing list behind Anderson (4,485) and Sutton (3,886), with a full year to go. In that case, he’ll need just 615 yards in 2016 to become NU’s rushing king.
That’s saying quite a bit. While Northwestern isn’t exactly USC, the Wildcats have had their share of star running backs, especially since the program’s renaissance in 1995. The Wildcats have had a running back eclipse 1,000 yards 14 times in the 22 seasons since the start of the Rose Bowl campaign, including 10 times in the 12-year span from 1995-2006.
Jackson is one of eight Wildcat backs to achieve quadruple digits during that period, joining a list that includes the aforementioned Autry (ran for 1,000 in 1995-96), Anderson (1999-2000) and Sutton (2005-06), as well as Adrian Autry (1997, no relation), Jason Wright (2002-03), Noah Herron (2004) and Venric Mark (2012).
Of that outstanding octet, five – Darnell Autry, Anderson, Wright, Sutton and Jackson – managed to reach the mark twice in their careers. Jackson has now done it three times in three years, with a chance to make it four-for-four next season.
So how has Jackson accomplished what those others haven’t? How did the slight, skinny 5-foot-11, 190-pounder from Carol Stream (Ill.) Glenbard North with the wide receiver’s body pile up 1,000 yards three straight years?
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald thinks Jackson is a combination of many of the backs that preceded him. He has the vision of Darnell Autry, the elusiveness of Wright, the versatility and receiving ability of Sutton and some of the power of Herron.
He also has remained healthier than just about any of those backs, too. Injuries prevented Anderson and Sutton from achieving the 1,000-yard triple crown, but Jackson has yet to miss a game in his career.
He may not look like it, but Jackson is a workhorse back, a mail carrier who gets stronger as the game wears on. His ability to “make people miss in a phone booth,” as Fitzgerald likes to say, means that he rarely takes a direct, hard shot from a tackler.
Jackson’s best plays are often shorter gains. His forte is turning a play that was blocked for no gain or a loss into positive yardage. He doesn’t have the breakaway speed of an Anderson nor the dominant offensive line that Darnell Autry enjoyed. He rarely gets the big explosion; he kills a defense with a thousand paper cuts.
Against Purdue last Saturday, Jackson showed many of his dazzling skills on a fairly nondescript run in the third quarter. It was a stretch play to the short side of the field on second-and-8. Jackson took the handoff from Thorson and slowly ran to his left. Purdue looked to have things strung out all the way to the boundary, but Jackson waited…and waited…and waited until center Brad North, who was pulling on the play, kicked out cornerback David Rose. Jackson then planted his left foot and darted upfield about halfway between the numbers and the sideline.
Linebacker Markus Bailey was in the hole waiting for him, but Jackson cut back, from left to right, and left him in his wake. Bailey got both hands around Jackson's left leg but it wasn’t nearly enough to bring him down. Safety Navon Mosley was up next and Jackson used yet another cutback, again left to right, which sent Mosley sprawling to the ground, unable to lay a finger on him. Eventually, Da’Wan Hunte, the cornerback on the wide side of the field, had to jump on Jackson’s back to bring him to the turf.
Jackson had turned what looked like a well-defended play into an 11-yard gain and a first down. That’s Jackson in a nutshell, game in and game out, year in and year out. He finished the game with 127 yards, two touchdowns and NU’s offensive player of the week honors.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Jackson this year, however. Saturday was just the fourth time he broke 100 yards and his output has fluctuated from a career-best 188 yards in a win over Michigan State to two 42-yard outputs in losses to Illinois State and Wisconsin.
Yet Jackson keeps coming back, steady as a metronome, despite defenses focused on stopping him.
Fitzgerald played with both Autrys and coached the rest of Northwestern’s star runners as either an assistant or the head man. He knows how fortunate he is to have Jackson for at least 14 more games, and possibly a few more, until the end of next season.
“We’ll be putting up statues on Jackson Avenue (outside of Ryan Field), which we’ve already named after Justin,” said Fitzgerald, referencing a humorous Northwestern football ad from earlier this season. “We’re talking about one of the best backs in Wildcat history.”
Maybe, by the time Jackson is done in Evanston, there won’t be a need from Fitzgerald to qualify that statement by including the phrase “one of.”
