By Andy Walter

NEWARK — Makhi Jackson didn’t have any room to work with.

With the football lobbed into the back corner of the end zone, the Delaware receiver had to keep a defender behind him, pull in the ball and keep a foot inbounds.

Somehow Jackson was able to do it all — much to the delight of his offensive teammates, who sprinted to the end zone to celebrate the touchdown with him.

“I was definitely in,” the Smyrna High grad said with a smile. “You’ve just got to focus after you catch the ball, look down and make sure you get both your feet in — not just one.”

It was a nice moment for Jackson, who pulled in another TD pass earlier in a scrimmage situation at the Blue Hens’ practice on Saturday morning.

The 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore also caught a pair of scoring passes in a scrimmage a couple weeks ago. For a guy just trying to earn some playing time, Jackson will take it.

With a new coaching staff, Jackson knows this is his chance to make a good first impression.

“I was kind of excited, just being able to get a new opportunity to be able to show myself,” he said. “I worked really hard in the winter knowing that nobody has a spot. You just get a fresh slate. That was nice.”

So far, so good. On Saturday, Jackson played with the second-team offense, lining up on both the outside and in the slot positions.

First-year head coach Ryan Carty likes what he’s seen from Jackson.

“He’s really bought into what the new system is,” said Carty. “I think he’s doing even a little better job at taking a leadership role as a guy who’s been here a couple years.

“He’s made some plays — you saw it today. That last catch (for the TD) wasn’t an easy catch and he made it. We’re counting on him. We’re expecting him to be somebody who can go out there and help us.”

There are other players in Jackson’s situation, too. Carty said he didn’t really spend much time evaluating his new players on film before spring practice started.

He wanted everybody to get a fresh start.

Jackson likes the idea of being judged solely on what he can show the coaches right now.

“Every day, I always look at it as a new opportunity to prove myself,” he said. “Even if I do well, they want to see if I’m doing it consistently. That keeps me motivated to do well every day.”

Making progress

With one week of spring practice remaining, Carty definitely thinks the Hens are showing improvement.

That’s especially true on offense, where Delaware is learning a new system.

“Just from day to day, we’ve gotten cleaner at lining up faster — at lining up correctly,” said Carty. “There’s very few mental errors right now.

“Now are we great at technique yet always? No. Sometimes are we thinking a little too much about our assignments and our fundamentals go to crap for a minute? Yes. But that’s football. That’s any new system, any new offense.

“But right now I feel like we’re playing at an intenser pace than we were at the beginning of spring.”

Delaware is slated to close spring drills with the Blue-White scrimmage on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Extra points

A number of veteran players were held out of live contact on Saturday, mostly because they’re still rehabbing from off-season surgeries. ... More than 100 invited high school senior recruits and their families were on hand. ... Dover High grad Bradly Anyanwu was lining up with the first-team offense at left guard. ... Defensive lineman Tommy Walsh, who originally wasn’t planning to use his final year of eligibility, has returned after all. ... With Delaware looking for a new starting place kicker, junior Brandon Ratcliffe hit a couple field goals on Saturday.

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at 741-8227 or walter@iniusa.org.
Follow Andy Walter on Twitter at @DSNSports.