Are our expectations for JJ unfair

[ProudUte]

Hear me out. I love what I saw in the last three games from Jackson. His transition to RB from QB has been amazing. Many of us (including me) have very high expectations for Jackson in 2023. However, keep in mind that he has only been a RB for about 9-10 months. There were many key games where he was hardly used, i.e., Oregon where he ran only three times. He only has two 100-yard rushing games so far and has never had more than 13 carries. Yet, we expect him to be the next Zack Moss.
I hope that JJ runs for over 1500 yards and is voted PAC12 first team. However, to expect that with his limited experience at RB may be a bit unfair.
Personally, I think he will be playing on Sundays. But, let’s give him some time to develop. He will be one of at least four guys running the ball for us in 2023.
Go Utes!!!

[D T]

He did have experience at RB when he was younger, so it wasn’t entirely foreign to him.

What he showed in the CCG & the flashes in the RB, that’s what’s got everyone fired up….He’s obviously a natural at the position & I don’t believe there’s a min experience requirement to be absolutely outstanding.

[Dallas]

I may be alone in this, but I wasn’t enthused with JJ’s play. He was serviceable in that he could hit the open holes, but neither he nor Glover seemed to be able to break a tackle once a defender got there, nothing like TT could. They’ll only improve I’m sure, but I’ve find the hype a bit of hopeful thinking.

[Ute Dub]

6.8 YPC avg in 2022 has me very optimistic for 2023. 6.2 avg against Penn State, 8.1 avg against USC. I can’t understand why he wasn’t getting more carries against Penn State. Does he not know all the plays? https://www.espn.com/college-football/player/_/id/4690972/ja’quinden-jackson

My only concern with JJ is sometimes he runs too upright, which might make him the less durable option. 

[Dallas]

I wonder how his yards after contact stats measured up. My recollection is he went down on first contact. His numbers could be attributed to our O line.

[krindor]

JaQuinden Jackson Rose Bowl Touchdown

I mean, this play had 22 yards after first contact.  Granted first contact wasn’t a strong one, but that was more Jackson making the defender miss than it was him just getting the yards blocked by the OL

[Dallas]

That was a great run.

[RedRocks]

Damn, I wish we had won one of those Rose Bowls…  I like that JaQuinden has stuck around; I hope he dominates.

[Utesbyfive]

That spin move was absolutely filthy. He’s got great awareness and quickness for a guy his size. I think his upside potential is sky high.

[mfaulk80]

Rose Bowl preview on Penn State site:

“Jackson has seen his share of carries increase dramatically in Utah’s last five games. A former quarterback, Jackson has rushed for 25 fewer yards than Bernard on the year but on 30 fewer attempts. Jackson’s 6.9 yards per rush is the best among Utes with at least 50 carries. He averages nearly four yards after contact, one of the better rates Penn State has seen all year.”

[Ute Dub]

#pwned

[Utah]

He was a .97 rated prospect out of high school with and early to mid round potential at LB or RB. 

So…no. His goal should be a first round drafted NFL RB. We’ve never had a player with so much raw talent. 

Will he get there? Those are high goals. Maybe not. But those should be the goals. He’s legit. 

He has great vision and patience as a runner. He’s six-three, 230 lbs with 4.5-4.6 speed and finishes runs with power.

He was a early to mid round NFL prospect out of high school and still is  

 

[Utah]

I fully expect him to be better than Moss. He may not be, again, that’s a lofty goal. 

But he has talent Moss didn’t have. 

[Utesbyfive]

Yeah, he and CPIII are the highest rated recruits we’ve ever had. JJ is a generational athlete for this program. He’s already excelled, and will continue to do so.

[fosternano]

He was also brought over to Utah because he is so athletic. I suspect it was never truly planned for him to play QB unless some crazy injuries happened.

Given whitts track record and the talent JJ has I expect him to have a great season, if not an amazing one.

[UtesRule]

Watch this video and you’ll be the biggest JJ fan!

I hope he has 1,500 yards this season!
JJ – Why U Play

[ProudUte]

Nice video.  Thanks for posting it.

[pedro]

What impressed me was two things:

1. His willingness to get in there and help the team anyway he could.  I’m sure he would rather be at QB but that wasn’t in his cards.  Despite his boyhood dream of being a QB, he switched just to get on the field for his team and his fallen bros

2.  His technique is rough to say the least….  But when you look at his first few runs then flip to the end of the season, the kids improved by leaps and bounds and honestly was knocking guys on their butts as well as juking a few.  IF he has continued to improve, he should be good this season.  

I’m exicted to find out.

[UrbanLiar]

I’ve done an NIL deal with him so I will also personally vouch for him as a great young man off the field. He’s been wonderful to interact with and I’m glad he’s a Ute.

[EagleMountainUte]

Haha that’s why I like you @ProudUte. You say temper expectations and then say he will be drafted.  
If Utah wins the P12 it will be because of JJ and Oline. Which is what I think Utah should try to do this year. Run the ball and control the clock.  We do have to remember some of the ball handling issues JJ has had. I want to see that corrected. But once he switched it took like 2-3 games before I noticed a vast improvement. 

TT obviously very good never learned to use his pads and had a very high fumble rate for his touches. JJ started to figure out how to use his pads and once he got second level it isn’t even fair. I think he wasn’t used as much against PSU because he didn’t know blocking schemes and that game went sideways anyways. 

[chinngiskhaan]

The hype is justified if for no other reason than because he is expected to be RB1 for the Utah Utes. RB1 for the Utah Utes means he is expected to be a 1000+ yard rusher. There are plenty of quality options behind him, so if he wasn’t good enough to be that guy, he wouldn’t be RB1.

[mfaulk80]

There were many key games where he was hardly used because he wasn’t the lead back until Tavion did his thing (much of which hasn’t been openly discussed). Him not playing much against Oregon had more to do with Tavion coming back after having some issues earlier in the season. Once Tavion put himself out of the picture completely (after the Oregon game), JJ became the lead back and he killed it.

I agree that he really should’ve been used more in the Penn State game. We got away from him later in the game, and I think that was a mistake.

I think most of the hype has to do with the fact that he did what he did by learning the position on the fly. No offseason to prepare. He wasn’t even truly the lead back for most of the season, so it’s not like he was getting all of the reps.

Even this year, the carries are going to get spread out a bit. We have too much talent in that room to give all of the carries to one player. It’s not going to be the same as we’ve often seen in the past where we really lean on on RB to rack up 20-25 carries per game. Curry will be back. Buzz is that Glover has had a fantastic off season (JJ too). And Micah is going to do his thing as well.