Kansas State running back Joe Jackson had every chance to bristle when the Wildcats added more bodies to the backfield through the transfer portal last winter. Instead, he treated it like a sign the room was getting stronger.
Kansas State brought in Rodney Fields from Oklahoma State and Jay Harris from Oregon after last season, even with Jackson coming off a breakout year. Jackson’s response was simple.
"I smiled," Jackson told reporters at Big 12 Media Day this week. "That was the first thing I did.
A lot of guys, they may think I have a problem with that or I didn't like it. I just looked at it for the betterment of the team.
Now I know what those guys can do, I feel like it's going to complement me."
That outlook fits the season Jackson just put together. As a junior, he opened the year behind Dylan Edwards, but that arrangement didn’t last long.
Jackson took over as the starter early and never gave the job back. He finished with 911 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, earning third-team All-Big 12 honors along the way.
Now Edwards is at Kansas, and Jackson enters the preseason as Kansas State’s featured runner. But the added competition hasn’t changed his mindset. If anything, it’s sharpened it.
Fields arrives with real production of his own after making eight starts for the Cowboys and rushing for 614 yards and a touchdown. Harris also brings experience, with 151 yards and a touchdown for the Ducks. Jackson likes what that gives the Wildcats.
"The point where we're at now is that we have a great understanding with each other," Jackson said. "We've all built a great relationship with each other ...
We've been able to build a relationship to where whoever is in the room ... somebody can say something and everybody listens. That's the thing that really excites me a lot, that everybody cares."
For Jackson, the message is clear: the backfield is crowded, but that’s exactly how he wants it.
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