Sanford’s offense lands top QB prospect

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

UNLV landed one of the top junior college quarterbacks in California on Monday when Jarrod Jackson of Grossmont College in El Cajon, Calif., said he would sign with the Rebels.

A 6-foot-1, 205-pounder, Jackson won the Joe Roth Memorial Award in honor of the late Cal quarterback star after leading the Griffins to a 11-1 record. He passed for 1,887 yards and 12 touchdowns despite missing three games with a high ankle sprain.

"I really liked the coaching staff a lot there," Jackson, who visited UNLV over the weekend, said. "I like where coach (Mike) Sanford wants to take the program. And the offense, obviously, is going to be fun to run."

Jackson played his prep football at Lake Oswego High School near Portland, Ore. He is considered a good runner, which is a key requirement for running Sanford's new spread offense.

Jackson also took a recruiting trip to the University of Buffalo before deciding on UNLV.

It was a bittersweet recruiting day for the Rebels, however.

Wide receiver Jerard Rabb (6-3, 200) of Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif., considered by some scouts to be the top wide receiver prospect on the West Coast this year, picked Boise State on Monday over the Rebels, Hawaii and Arizona.

"He is a big-timer," Dick Lascola of the Fallbrook, Calif.-based Scouting Evaluation Association said of Rabb, who visited UNLV on the weekend on Dec. 10-11. "He's a big target with speed. He had a great year."