Former Notre Dame wide receiver Richard Jackson will be attending the University of Central Florida after deciding to transfer from Notre Dame earlier this month. Jackson missed all of last year with injuries and was very close to being burried on the depth chart with the influx of talent in the freshman class and decided to try and catch on somewhere else.
“I wanted to make the best choice for me and my family,” Jackson said. “That’s the reason I came home, to be closer to my family. UCF isn’t that far away and it will be nice to be around my family again.”
Jackson said his expectation is join the team Sunday after completing a required physical on Saturday. He will initially join the team as a walk-on.
“I’m paying my own way and hopefully I can work my way towards a scholarship,” Jackson said.
Unless he is granted a waiver by the NCAA, Jackson will sit out this season and would have two more years of eligibility beginning in 2009.
“I think there’s a chance I could play pretty early on,” Jackson said. “I talked to them about that when I went out there on Sunday. I haven’t talked to them a whole lot this week because I wanted to make sure I did everything on my end by getting enrolled in school.”
Jackson is a very talented athelete who I think could have a very nice impact for UCF. Had he not gotten injured last year, who knows what would have happened with his development at Notre Dame. If you go back and watch the videos of the receivers in Weis’s first class, Jackson’s was easily the most impressive and reminded me a lot of Jeff Samardzija really.
The injuries though, combined with the incoming talent at receiver would have made seeing the field very difficult for him. Here’s wishing Richard good luck at UCF.
