Reports: Jacksonville Jaguars WR coach Chris Jackson leaving to take job at Texas

Jan 24, 2023 - 9:58 PM

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receivers coach Chris Jackson is leaving Florida to accept the same position with the Texas Longhorns, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.

The news comes more than two weeks after former Texas wide receivers coach Brennan Marion was officially announced as the offensive coordinator at UNLV and eight days after Jackson seemingly denied reports linking him to the Longhorns.

But that was when Jacksonville was still in the playoffs and following their elimination by the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday, Jackson was free to begin finalizing his agreement to join Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian’s staff.

Jackson’s tie to the program is that he played with tight ends coach/special teams coordinator Jeff Banks at Washington State in 1996 and 1997, including for the Rose Bowl run led by Ryan Leaf in the latter season.

After a long professional career primarily in the Arena Football League that included 13,355 receiving yards and 325 touchdowns, Jackson coached wide receivers at a high school in Arizona before landing a job in 2019 as a defensive assistant with the Chicago Bears. Jackson previously spent time with the Bears during training camp in 2018 thanks to the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program.

Jackson moved to a role as an assistant wide receivers coach in Chicago for two seasons before Doug Pederson hired him in Jacksonville last year.

So while Jackson doesn’t have any experience in college football, particularly as a recruiter, he is a Mater Dei alum, providing a tie to the talent-laden California program, and his quick rise in the NFL ranks suggests the capability to quickly adjust to his new role on the Forty Acres.