NC State’s receiver room looks nothing like it did a year ago, but Keenan Jackson is still there, still standing, and now stepping into the spotlight.
The Wolfpack lost four wideouts this offseason who combined for 126 catches, 1,849 yards and 13 touchdowns last season, so the staff leaned on veteran help from the transfer portal to rebuild the position. Even with all that turnover, Jackson remains one of the key holdovers from last year’s group, and he’s not treating 2026 like a season to blend in.
“I've got big goals, honestly,” Jackson said. “My goal is to be the No. 1 receiver.
I feel like that's the same way for all the guys in our room. We all want to be the top dog.
So that's what I'm striving for. My goal is to be the number one guy, be the guy that we count on, and lead the team in receiving.”
That’s a bold target, but Jackson has already shown he can produce at a high level. The junior finished last season with 28 catches for 281 yards and two receiving touchdowns, more than doubling both his receptions and his receiving yards from 2025. And if you go back to his senior year at Matthews Weddington, the ceiling gets even clearer: 102 catches for 1,704 yards and 19 touchdowns in 16 games.
That production didn’t come out of nowhere. Jackson had already posted 102 receptions for 1,354 yards and 16 touchdowns across the previous two seasons combined, so the big senior year was the latest step in a long climb.
Now he’s trying to turn that high school track record into a bigger role in Raleigh. To help make that happen, Jackson dropped eight pounds this offseason, a move aimed at adding speed heading into 2026.
His decision to join NC State was tied to development from the start. Jackson flipped from UNC on Signing Day ahead of the 2024 season, saying at the time, “It's the culture and the way they play week in and week out,” Jackson said.
“The attitude coach Doeren brings to the whole program is something I want to be a part of. It's something that is the best for me to develop as a player and as a man.”
This summer, Jackson also took on a different kind of responsibility. With only he returning as an active receiver who had more than three catches in a Wolfpack uniform, he became the most experienced piece in the room and started leaning into a more vocal leadership role during spring work and summer workouts.
For Jackson, that part of the job doesn’t feel foreign.
“It’s a new challenge, but it’s not something I've never experienced before in my life,” Jackson said. “I've been in leadership roles in middle school, high school, pretty much my whole life.
So being back in this position is not something new. But it's a new group and it's at a different level.
I'm really just trying to grow every day and just do whatever I can to help my teammates get ready.”
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Now there is at least a path for some of those players to gain another season, and that keeps NC State from assuming every familiar face is necessarily headed out the door. The situation is still tangled by the NCAAs appeal, and the fine print leaves plenty of players sorting through exactly where they stand, which means the Wolfpack may not be done exploring their options just yet. [Read more 🡒]
CJ Bailey Now Carries NC States Biggest 2026 Question
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His role is bigger now because the expectations are bigger, too. Bailey showed real growth as the season unfolded and already has the look of a player the staff can build around, but the next step is about more than confidence and command. For NC State, the real question is how far he can carry an offense that will be asking a lot from him again. [Read more 🡒]