WR Sam Jackson Doesn’t Hide Behind Excuses Following First Start at QB

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State’s receiver-turned-quarterback Sam Jackson finished with 84 passing yards in his first start. 

It’s the fourth time in Oklahoma State’s six-game season that the starter passed for under 100 yards. That frightening statistic gets even scarier considering Jackson’s performance still gives him more passing yards than OSU’s passing leader had in two other games this season, including last week at Arizona.

Oklahoma State fell to Houston 39-17.

“I think most of that (self-inflicted mistakes) came from me with the fumble snaps, 4th-and-1 (decision),” Jackson said. “I think it started, everything pretty much started with me. Cadence, just being louder with the guys and knowing what to say to O-line and stuff like that.”

Jackson finished 7-of-16 for 84 passing yards and an interception. He also fumbled three times, all recovered by OSU.

Interim coach Doug Meacham was a good bit kinder to his quarterback than Jackson was to himself after the uneven performance.

“I know he can play a lot better than that,” Meacham said. “And I knew he would make mistakes. … It’s a lot on him. He made some mistakes, a couple of ill-advised throws, a couple of reads that were incorrect, but he functioned, at times, like what we want him to. I know he’s capable of doing that. So, we’ll just get him all the reps again next week, and maybe he’ll be better next week. But that’s just kinda part of it. I know he played quarterback before, but when you haven’t done it in two years, it’s hard.”

Jackson played roughly 20 snaps at quarterback in the last two weeks in what amounted to a warmup for Saturday’s start, his first at quarterback since 2023. The former receiver showed up with a different mindset than he showed at the quarterback position in the last two weeks.

The biggest difference, and perhaps the biggest reason for optimism, was his big-play mentality. Five of Jackson’s 15 attempts (ignoring his throwaway), were targeted at receivers 10-plus yards downfield and only 13% of his attempts came at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Ignoring Jackson’s passing touchdown against Baylor when he lined up at wide receiver, he had kept things relatively short this season when given the chance to pass.

The chart above doesn’t capture that Jackson attempted two passes exactly 9 yards downfield, completing one of them. All together, it’s clear from his performance on Saturday that he’s looking for the big plays much more often than he or Zane Flores were earlier this season. 

For the most part, he was successful. He delivered a 15-yard strike to receiver Gavin Freeman when the Cowboys faced 3rd-and-14 only three plays into the game.

Later in the first half, he topped that with a 35-yard completion to Cam Abshire. That play probably best highlights Jackson’s mentality considering he gave up a wide open dump-off-pass to running back Rodney Fields 2-yards downfield on 1st-and-10. Jackson said Abshire was actually his second read on the play, so he was able to hit him in stride 28 yards downfield after he passed up his first read.

“When he throws the ball and he has time, he looks pretty damn good,” Meacham said. “He throws a really nice ball, has a really quick delivery. He will only get better now that he has kind of got a foundation to the communication, what he has to say to who and what he says and all the personnel groupings and everything. So he’ll get better and it will slow down. I’m sure the game is moving pretty fast right now.”

Although the numbers, and the eye test, might suggest Jackson performed well on his downfield throws, the quarterback felt that was one of many areas he let his teammates and himself down. While that play to Abshire went well, Jackson said there were a few times the checkdown would have helped the Cowboys move the ball.

“I think I should have got the ball out a little quicker,” Jackson said. “I was just holding on to the deep shot because we had, like we had success with it. So I was holding on to it a little bit too long, and then my check down kind of got away from me and (I) started rolling out and stuff like that. So that’s just me having to get the ball out quicker, knowing my check down.”

The other difference in Jackson’s first start was his willingness to stick with the pass. After running the ball six times in the last two games (remember that’s on roughly 20 snaps), Jackson ran only  four times Saturday despite the huge increase in quarterback time.

Ironically, one of the few mistakes Meacham singled out in his postgame press conference was the one time he wanted Jackson to run the ball on 4th-and-1 at the OSU 44-yard line on the Cowboys’ second drive.

“Man, he should’ve ran it,” Meacham said. “It was a draw, and he threw the quick game. … When you run a speedball play like that, and it’s bang-bang and he hasn’t played quarterback, that’s what happens. So, we were just trying to slip one in there before they could load up on us and have seven up and all the blitzes and the crap they do. Just kinda backfired, but he’ll get better at that because he can run with the ball. He made the decision quickly, and it didn’t happen.”

Jackson gave up his dreams of playing quarterback at the NFL more than two years ago, and he didn’t spend the offseason preparing for Saturday. So, Meacham’s excuses feel authentic and acceptable.

After all Jackson has a lot of adjustments to make before the ball even gets snapped.

“Listen to what coach is saying, talk to the O-line, and communicate what the protection is,” Jackson said listing some of his pre-snap responsibilities as a quarterback. “What is the defense doing? One high? Two high? Man? zone? … What’s down and distance? Take a deep breath, play the snap, play the play and put the ball in play. 

“So, that’s a lot. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s a lot, but it’s something I can handle. I think that if they keep me at quarterback, that’s something I’ll get better at for sure. But I don’t really know what’s next.”

Jackson clearly took the loss hard on Saturday, but Meacham all but confirmed Jackson would remain the guy moving forward until the quarterbacks get healthier. Just don’t expect Oklahoma State’s emergency quarterback to lower his standards regardless of where he lines up.

“When you step into a position like this, it’s like, you don’t want to come in and just like, okay, let’s just survive,” Jackson said. “You want to thrive. So I think (today) that was me just trying to, you know, make something happen at quarterback. You don’t always have to do that. Doesn’t have to be a big play every single play. … And that’s something that I just gotta think about when I’m in the game, and on the sideline and practice and stuff like that.”

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