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Goal No. 4: IMPROVE.Every day… as a player, person and student.

#4 Joe Jackson

Redshirt Junior* | 6-0 | 212 lbs. | Haines City, Florida

• Position: Running Back
• Projection: Starter/Special Teams
• Remaining Eligibility: 2 years
• Status: On Scholarship

Joseph Jackson Jr. (b. Oct. 4, 2004) is an electric running back, WTC Fiber spokesperson and raspberry lemonade magnate from Ridge Community High School in Davenport/Haines City, Florida, who is majoring in kinesiology.

With DJ Giddens off to the National Football League, Jackson has ascended to the role of the primary running back in this offense. He also is a member of the Maxwell Award and Wuerffel Trophy preseason watch lists heading into 2026.

“Joe Jackson is just like a consummate vet. He’s very smart, makes the right cut when you need make the right cut. Understands the scheme, understands pass protection,” offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson said in August.

“I’m the most confident I’ve ever been,” Jackson told D. Scott Fritchen at Big 12 Media Days in early July:

My confidence level comes from the years I’ve been here. It’s been a long road. My confidence has increased every single year. Now, Coach Klein definitely plays a factor in that. Coach Klein came back and I know his competitiveness, and what we’ve been through as a team and where we want to go. We’ve come up short and we can’t do that again this year. It’s an itch I can’t scratch. I can’t wait to get out there.

He enters the 2026 season ranked seventh in school history in career rushing yards per carry (5.37), while he is 28th in career rushing yards (1,139) after he became the seventh-fastest player to 1,000 career rushing yards, hitting the mark on just his 191st carry.

Jackson played in two games in 2023, seeing time as a reserve running back against SEMO and on kickoff returns against NC State as he preserved his redshirt*. He had four carries against SEMO, including a long of 5 yards.

At this time a couple of years ago, I predicted Jackson would contribute more on at least some occasions, given he had earned praise from coaches such as former associate head coach Van Malone after 2024’s spring/fall camps:

Joe Jackson is a younger guy, and man, we’ve seen great potential in him, but now is an opportunity for Joe Jackson. There’s no more redshirting, now he’s going to get his opportunity. Those are kinds of excited guys I’ve seen, guys who know that they’re getting their opportunity, and it’s coming, and it’s right in front of them. They just want to make the most of the opportunities.

Joe… I’ve been impressed with what he’s done this fall camp, not only at running back, but what he’s done as a special teams player. He’s really developed, really improved over being just a little young kid running around. So, I’ve been impressed with him.

Well, Malone’s words proved pretty prophetic. In 2024, Jackson saw action in 10 games, recording 227 rushing yards and a touchdown on 39 carries in addition to 63 receiving yards and a touchdown on six catches.

He had a career-high 50 rushing yards in the Rate Bowl against Rutgers, a game in which he also set career highs in receptions (three) and receiving yards (37) in addition to his first career receiving touchdown.

Jackson nearly hit the 50-yard rushing mark with 48 yards in the season opener against UT Martin — a game that featured his career-long rush of 32 yards — while he had 47 yards against Cincinnati.

He scored his first career touchdown on a 4-yard run against Arizona State; saw time on 136 offensive snaps during the season, including a career-high 43 plays in the Rate Bowl; and picked up Academic All-Big 12 honors.

Last year, Jackson played in all 12 games with nine starts, leading the team with 911 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 169 carries while carding 119 receiving yards and a touchdown on 22 catches en route to All-Big 12 third-team honors from the league’s coaches. He ranked fifth in the Big 12 in rushing yards per game (75.9) and seventh in total rushing yards, while he ranked 12th in school history with a 5.39-yard rushing average.

A driving force in helping the 2025 Wildcats to rank fifth in school history in rushing yards per carry (5.09), Jackson set a school record with 293 rushing yards at Utah, eclipsing (by 1 yard!) the 21-year-old record previously held by Darren Sproles and ranking as the second-most rushing yards nationally during 2025.

His total was part of a 472-yard total output on the ground at Utah, which broke a 71-year-old school record and also was the second-most rushing yards nationally in the 2025 season.

Jackson’s 12.9-yard average at Utah was the ninth-highest ever recorded in Big 12 Conference history, highest by a Wildcat in the Big 12 era and third-highest nationally during the 2025 season (on a minimum of 20 attempts).

His effort against the Utes featured an 80-yard touchdown run, which was tied for the eighth-longest rush in school history, and he also posted 19 receiving yards in the game as his 312 scrimmage yards were the second most in school history and most by a Power 4 player in 2025, while those 312 all-purpose yards also ranked ninth in K-State history.

“I never get tired of the question (about the Utah game),” Jackson said:

I just look at it as a blessing no matter how many times I get asked about the Utah game. I just embrace every moment. But my mindset is not trying to do too much and not trying to have a chip on my shoulder that I have to prove something to somebody this year. I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. I just have to be the best version of myself each and every week.

If Joe Jackson can be the best Joe Jackson that he can be each and every week, everything else will go along with it.

Jackson then backed that performance up with his third 100-yard rushing game of the season in the finale against Colorado, when he went for 142 yards. His first-career 100-yard effort was against TCU, a game in which he had 88 yards on 21 carries in the second half.

Jackson posted three rushing touchdowns against both Utah and Colorado, becoming the first Wildcat with at least three rushing touchdowns in consecutive games since Adrian Martinez in 2022 against Oklahoma (4) and Texas Tech (3), but the first K-State running back to do so since Alex Barnes in 2018 against Baylor (3) and Oklahoma State (4). He also had rushing touchdowns against both UCF and Oklahoma State.

Jackson hauled in the game-winning touchdown reception with 42 seconds remaining against North Dakota, K-State’s first game-winning touchdown with under 1:00 remaining since Isaiah Zuber against Iowa State in 2017.

He collected career highs in receptions (5) and receiving yards (41) at Baylor and earned Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Communicators, in addition to Academic All-Big 12 accolades again.

Jackson prepped under head coach Carl White at Ridge Community, where he was regarded as the 514th-best overall prospect in the Class of 2023 by On3 Consensus.

He was rated the 14th-best all-purpose running back prospect in the nation by Rivals, while ESPN ranked him the 67th-best overall prospect in the state of Florida.

Jackson also was rated No. 4 on The Ledger’s Super 16 list prior to the 2022 season.

He totaled 1,143 yards and 20 touchdowns in seven games during his senior season for the Bolts thanks in part to a 326-yard, six-touchdown effort as he broke the school record for single-game rushing yardage.

Jackson also rushed for 1,011 yards and nine touchdowns in addition to catching 15 passes for 342 yards and five scores as a junior.

He picked K-State over offers from Alcorn State, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Bethune-Cookman, Bryant, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Duke, East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Grambling State, Iowa State, Louisville, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Temple, Tulane, USF, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Western Kentucky, as well as strong recruiting interest from Florida State, Kentucky and UCF.

Jackson’s primary recruiters were current wide receivers coach Thad Ward and his former position coach, Brian Anderson. He brings toughness, agility and speed to the running back position.

Last September, Anderson assessed in a press conference that Jackson was ready to fill Gidden’s large shoes:

Joe has done a really good job. He was fortunate to be with DJ and see how he handled his business on and off the field. He’s taken that to another level, also. It’s still a learning process. I know everybody wants it right now, but it’s a process, and Joe has done a really good job with that.

I don’t think anyone quite expected him to break Sproles’ record in his first full-time season as a starter, though!

*K-State has recently announced a new classification scheme that designates players by their year of eligibility regardless of whether they have “redshirted,” a term that will go out of use with the new “5-for-5” rule. Thus, the KSU SID lists Jackson as a true senior even though he barely played in 2023. For the sake of consistency with past posts, I will continue to designate redshirts based on their playing history, but also note their remaining eligibility to stay consistent with the new designations as well.

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