Before Kahleil Jackson ever let the ball fly against Auburn, one thing was running through his head: don’t leave it short.
That instinct mattered. Three years after a similar trick play against Vanderbilt ended with Jackson’s throw falling short and getting picked off, Florida got the payoff this time in a 44-39 win at Auburn on September 19. Jackson took a lateral screen from quarterback Aaron Philo, then launched a 48-yard completion to tight end Amir Jackson, who made a diving, over-the-shoulder grab to help keep the play alive and set up a field goal.
“I had to redeem myself,” Jackson said. “I know, like, two, three years ago maybe, I had one against Vandy.
And I didn’t lead him enough and it ain't turned out how we wanted it. So, I wasn't going to make that mistake again.”
The play was one Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner added to the playbook two weeks earlier, and Jackson said the Gators had spent plenty of time on it. He said the look Auburn gave them matched what Florida had seen in practice, which made the timing feel right.
“Everybody was pumped up,” Jackson said. “They knew this is what I always wanted to do in a game, and they know from the past I had that one, I let slip. So, this was good to get another chance to do it.”
A former quarterback at Hawthorne High School, Jackson said he still trusts his arm. He added that the play worked repeatedly in practice, with one exception in a walkthrough the morning before the game.
“I hit it every time we did it, except for in the walkthrough the morning before the game, I threw it in the curtain in the hotel," Jackson said. "But, yeah, we ran it probably like 20 times, so I was ready when it came.”
Florida coach Jon Sumrall said he was hesitant at first to green-light the trick play, but once he saw Auburn’s alignment, he told Faulkner to “let it rip.”
“They were playing a man zero-ish type coverage, and the guy that had Amir thought he'd like to go tackle the guy with the ball,” Sumrall said. “So worked out good, but great call.
Really, really, really good, big play. There were several of those types of scenarios in the game that I thought we had a good call at the right time.”
For Jackson, the completion was the latest step in a comeback that has stretched across seven years of college football. He missed the last two seasons because of a torn ACL and a second knee surgery to repair torn cartilage, and he also picked up an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA because of the 2020 COVID season.
“Yeah, it was a long, tough 18 months, two years. You know, it was - it was definitely a tough journey," Jackson said.
"A lot of hard days, long days, struggling with the injuries and stuff. But I think, you know, with the right mindset, that's ultimately what led me to push through."
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