Tennessee football entered the season looking for a third starting wide receiver and, as the Vols prepared to play at Georgia Tech, position coach Kelsey Pope said it was still a job being done by a committee of players.
But as the No. 14 Vols (2-0) beat Georgia Tech (0-2) under the lights at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Sept. 12, sophomore Radarious Jackson appeared to take a hold of the last starting job available in UT's offense alongside stars Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews.
"I thought he did a really good job the other night. Very consistent, really good decision-making," coach Josh Heupel said on Sept. 14. "Had a really good feel for man and zone principles and I thought played his best football, at least it was the most consistent he's been
for 60 minutes of play. Really good night for him."
In a 45-24 win, Jackson, a four-star recruit out of Sheffield High School in Memphis, played 34 offensive snaps, the third most of any Vols wideout and 19 more than Travis Smith Jr., who played the fourth most.
He had been engaged in a three-way battle with Smith, a sophomore, and TK Keys, the top wide receiver recruit in the class of 2026, for the third starting job.
Jackson set a new career high against Georgia Tech with 64 receiving yards, 45 of which came on a key third-down conversion in the first quarter. He's already accounted for more yards through two games of his sophomore season than he did during all of his freshman year.
The long conversion with freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon was proof of growing trust between him and Jackson.
“It’s really, really great. You love to have a quarterback’s trust," Jackson said. "So I just run the routes the best way I can to get open, as quickly as possible."
Jackson enters Week 3 against Kennesaw State (1-1) on Sept. 19 (7:45 p.m., SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium tied for the most receptions (six) and is second in receiving yards (102), though he's still chasing the first touchdown of his career. But he believes the receptions will continue to come as long as he's detailed and willing to do the dirty work like blocking.
“You got to be a team player," Jackson said. "You can't just be great when you get the ball, you got to be great for your other teammates too.”
Jackson hopes his selfless attitude will continue to pay dividends.
"It was my best game," Jackson said. "I was just taking a little details in the off-season, cleaning them up to where I'm adding the most value I can too, the team."
Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball. Email him at stephen.thompson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: It appears Radarious Jackson has won Tennessee football's last starting WR job
