Newcomer has skills, attitude of a winner

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 | 9:22 a.m.

As Jarrod Jackson walked onto the Rebel Park practice field for the first day of spring practice on Tuesday afternoon, it would have been very easy to confuse him for a team manager.

Standing at a listed 6-foot-1 -- and that appears to be really stretching it -- and lugging a large bag of footballs with him, Jackson doesn't have the prototype quarterback build of a Carson Palmer or an Alex Smith or a Matt Leinart. In fact, at a well-chisled 205-pounds, he looks better suited to play strong safety.

But if Jackson, a transfer from Grossmont College near San Diego, was another two or three inches taller, chances are he probably wouldn't be at UNLV challenging for the starting quarterback job this spring.

"It would have been really tough," Rebel coach Mike Sanford admitted.

No doubt teams from the Pac-10 or Big 12 would have been all over Jackson if he stood 6-3 or 6-4. Instead, the Rebels had to beat out schools like Utah State, Buffalo, Idaho State and Weber State for his services.

That's fine with Sanford, who obviously believes good things can come in small packages at that position.

"The thing I liked is what he did on tape," Sanford said. "He was a very productive player on tape. He's a good passer. He's a great competitor."

And, perhaps most importantly, Jackson has a knack for quarterbacking winning football teams.

He led his high school, Lake Oswego High near Portland, Ore., to a 10-1 record and its first conference title in school history his senior year. And after turning down an offer to walk-on at nearby Portland State, he went 22-2 as a starter for one of the top junior college programs in the nation at Grossmont, winning a national junior college title his freshman year in the process.

"He's a guy who has been a winner," Sanford said. "He's been in some winning situations and he's used to winning. And I like that."

Jackson also runs well, which is another key criteria for playing quarterback in Sanford's new spread option attack. He is battling junior Shane Steichen, a part-time starter during a dismal 2-9 season in 2004, and junior college transfer Blake Sartini for the starting quarterback job this spring.

"This is pretty exciting to be here and to finally get it going," Jackson said. "We've been in winter conditioning the last eight or nine weeks and we're just ready to get on the field and start playing football."

Jackson said it didn't take him long to jump at the chance to come to UNLV after he learned Sanford would be bringing his high-scoring spread option attack with him from Utah.

"It was an exciting opportunity," he said. "I had to take it."

Still, he knows he still has to beat out Steichen and Sartini to win the job.

"We're all starting even," Jackson said. "And we're all going to battle and do our best out here."

Sanford said he likely won't name a starting quarterback until the fall.

"I have no idea when we'll name a starter," he said. "I would say we're probably going to take our time on this thing and probably go into the fall without making a decision. We just want to see them compete, see how they develop and see how they improve."