Jackson is Back for More
Apr 03, 2026 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
A lot can happen in a year. Just ask Kansas State junior running back Joe Jackson. This time a year ago, he was battling, fighting, stretching himself to the limit in spring workouts for the chance to contribute to the Wildcats' backfield in the fall. As a freshman, he rushed for 277 yards. But he had dreams and carried confidence. All he wanted was to earn a chance his sophomore season. Here's what happened next: As fate played out and patience paid off, Jackson earned All-Big 12 Third Team honors with a team-high 911 rushing yards and eight touchdowns while his 75.9 rushing yards per game to rank fifth in the Big 12.
Incredible? Not to Jackson.
"It was always my goal, so it wasn't a big shocker," he says. "It was always the goal in the back of my mind to push for things like that. I imagined those things. I put in the work to achieve those things, so it wasn't a big shocker for me. I always had the confidence I could do it. As we went on, the confidence only built and got higher and higher."
Now the 6-foot, 207-pound native of Haines City, Florida, so humble, and so grounded, is back or more. On a team that in 2026 features first-year head coach Collin Klein, new running backs coach Cory Patterson, and two new transfer running backs in Jay Harris from Oregon and Rodney Fields Jr. from Oklahoma State, it's steady Jackson, his evolving growth as a team leader, and his jukes and burst, which remains a constant for an offense that will feature Klein as head coach and play caller.
Jackson, who was actually recruited to K-State by Klein in 2023 when Klein served as K-State offensive coordinator, wouldn't have it any other way. The coach and player reunited when Klein, who had served the 2024 and 2025 seasons as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, phoned Jackson soon after his hiring as K-State head coach in early December.
"The first thing I told Coach Klein when he called me was, 'All things happen for a reason. Let's finish what we started,'" Jackson says, standing in front of reporters at the Vanier Family Football Complex after spring practice on Thursday. "I love Kansas State and we have so much unfinished business. Everybody knows how the season went last year. Everybody knows what happened. It wasn't supposed to go like that. The biggest thing for me was just coming back and finishing what was supposed to happen and finish the goals we've had since we were freshmen."
Jackson rushed for 1,143 yards and 20 touchdowns in seven games during his senior season at Ridge Community (Fla.) High School with a school-record 326-yard, six-touchdown effort in a single game. Jackson also was dubbed the 514th-best overall prospect in the Class of 2023 by On3 Consensus. But Klein saw something in Jackson. He believed in Jackson as did former K-State running backs coach Brian Anderson. With Jackson, they figured, it might just be a matter of time before he makes an impact.
Jackson did more than make an impact.
On November 22, 2025, Jackson exploded.
On that evening, Jackson rushed for the most yards by a K-State player ever in a single game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jackson's 293 rushing yards at Utah topped Darren Sproles' previous record of 292 set in 2004, and it was the second-most rushing yards by an FBS player in 2025. Jackson's 312 scrimmage yards were the second most in K-State history and most by a Power 4 player in 2025. His 12.9 yards per carry marked the highest by a K-State player in the Big 12 era.
Klein during his initial spring news conference last week said that K-State has "probably as good as an offense to play running back as there is in the country."
That brings a smile to the face of Jackson, who ranks seventh all-time in K-State history with 5.37 yards per rushing attempt and who has 1,139 rushing yards in his 24-game career.
"As a running back, you love to hear something like that," Jackson says. "Coach Klein's versatility in the things that he does can open up a lot of different things, not just for running backs, but for everybody else on the field with wide receivers and tight ends. It's going to put a lot of pressure on the defense with the different packages we do with the running backs.
"I love Coach Klein, his competitive edge, his aggressiveness and versatility. I feel like he's one of the best play-callers in the country, and I love every bit of him. That's my guy."
Now Jackson looks to build off last season.
"I can build off it a lot," he says. "People might not see the small things I need to fix. There were a lot of small things that could've made things go way bigger. There are some things in there I still need to fix, and I can build off that a lot."
Where can Jackson most improve?
"Me being more patient with things, and me seeing things different ways, and me trusting myself and the guys up front, and not trying to rush, and making guys miss, and understanding the scheme more," he says. "Little small, small things like that can make it go a lot bigger."
He'll have ample support from Klein and Patterson, who came to K-State after serving as running backs coach at Oklahoma State in 2025. Patterson, who has also coached at Illinois and Purdue, helped Illinois running back Chase Brown evolve into a finalist for the 2022 Doak Walker Award. Brown, who ranked third in the FBS in averaging 136.9 rushing yards per game and was the nation's only player to rush for 100 yards in 10 games in 2022, went to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2023 NFL Draft.
"Joe is a dawg," Patterson says. "I like Joe. He's got a strong stiff arm. I've seen him put the wood on people a couple of times. I told him that the thing we're going to work on is getting into the open field and making some people miss. I want that out of him. I want to turn some of those 15-yard runs into 60-yard runs.
"He does phenomenal work and he's a guy who can handle taking the ball 25 times. These days, it's hard to have a guy who can do that, but Joe can carry it 25 times, lather up, and keep going. I'm excited to work with Joe."
Jackson says that Patterson's energy is "out of this world."
"I love that the most," Jackson continues. "He's never going to let you slack. Even days you come in pretty slow, I may have a bad day when I walk through the door, but it isn't long before we turn that around. I love Coach Patterson. He came in and set the standard really high with me as soon as he got here. I love every bit about him. He's going to challenge me. He's made a promise to me that he's going to challenge me harder than anybody has challenged me before.
"I told him that I accept all of it."
Jackson continues to work to improve himself not only on the field but in the locker room and running backs room as well.
"To be honest, me being a leader, I've been challenged with that the last two and a half or three years," Jackson says. "As a leader, I've stepped up in ways – I've been forced to – because people have been on me every single day. Even back home with my dad, he challenged me the most. With coaches here, I've been challenged since I've been here. That's the biggest thing I've changed — my leadership.
"Everybody says I do everything right. I'm an introvert, so I keep to myself a lot. I focus on myself. My biggest step I had to take was still doing what I had to do but also take everybody else with me. If I do something, I make sure I tell those guys, 'Come on, let's do this.'"
He's latched onto two transfers in particular.
Jay Harris is a 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior who transferred from Oregon after rushing for 151 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries while recording 89 receiving yards on six catches over 103 offensive snaps last season. Rodney Fields Jr. is a 5-foot-9, 193-pound sophomore who rushed for 614 yards and one touchdown while adding 276 receiving yards and another score on 28 receptions. As a freshman last season, he ranked sixth in the Big 12 in averaging 98.89 all-purpose yards per game.
"I feel like we've gelled like no other," Jackson says. "I feel like I've been with them a couple years, a long time. I've bonded with them really well. We push each other every single day. The biggest thing I like with who they brought in is that we're all going to complement each other, so I might not have to take whatever number of reps per game, because I have other guys who can come in and do the same thing, and we can complement each other.
"The biggest thing for us is we can all stay fresh. For our big end-of-the-season goal we want to get to, it's going to take guys rotating in and everybody staying fresh so we can keep pressure on the defense."
It's still 155 days until K-State kicks off the Klein era and the Wildcats open the 2026 season against Nicholls at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Yet the intensity and energy inside the football practice facility already is absolutely electric in spring practice.
"Today was probably the best day we've had so far from the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball," Jackson says. "The juice was very cranked up today."
Jackson is eager for what's to come in the fall.
"We can be really dangerous," he says. "We just have to keep bringing it every day and getting 1% better and build off each other. Once the season comes around, we're going to have some things going."
A lot can happen in a year.
Last year, Jackson transformed into a bonafide rushing threat for the Wildcats.
Now he could take another step in 2026.
And become of the top running backs in the country.
A lot can happen in a year. Just ask Kansas State junior running back Joe Jackson. This time a year ago, he was battling, fighting, stretching himself to the limit in spring workouts for the chance to contribute to the Wildcats' backfield in the fall. As a freshman, he rushed for 277 yards. But he had dreams and carried confidence. All he wanted was to earn a chance his sophomore season. Here's what happened next: As fate played out and patience paid off, Jackson earned All-Big 12 Third Team honors with a team-high 911 rushing yards and eight touchdowns while his 75.9 rushing yards per game to rank fifth in the Big 12.
Incredible? Not to Jackson.
"It was always my goal, so it wasn't a big shocker," he says. "It was always the goal in the back of my mind to push for things like that. I imagined those things. I put in the work to achieve those things, so it wasn't a big shocker for me. I always had the confidence I could do it. As we went on, the confidence only built and got higher and higher."
Now the 6-foot, 207-pound native of Haines City, Florida, so humble, and so grounded, is back or more. On a team that in 2026 features first-year head coach Collin Klein, new running backs coach Cory Patterson, and two new transfer running backs in Jay Harris from Oregon and Rodney Fields Jr. from Oklahoma State, it's steady Jackson, his evolving growth as a team leader, and his jukes and burst, which remains a constant for an offense that will feature Klein as head coach and play caller.
Jackson, who was actually recruited to K-State by Klein in 2023 when Klein served as K-State offensive coordinator, wouldn't have it any other way. The coach and player reunited when Klein, who had served the 2024 and 2025 seasons as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, phoned Jackson soon after his hiring as K-State head coach in early December.
"The first thing I told Coach Klein when he called me was, 'All things happen for a reason. Let's finish what we started,'" Jackson says, standing in front of reporters at the Vanier Family Football Complex after spring practice on Thursday. "I love Kansas State and we have so much unfinished business. Everybody knows how the season went last year. Everybody knows what happened. It wasn't supposed to go like that. The biggest thing for me was just coming back and finishing what was supposed to happen and finish the goals we've had since we were freshmen."
Jackson rushed for 1,143 yards and 20 touchdowns in seven games during his senior season at Ridge Community (Fla.) High School with a school-record 326-yard, six-touchdown effort in a single game. Jackson also was dubbed the 514th-best overall prospect in the Class of 2023 by On3 Consensus. But Klein saw something in Jackson. He believed in Jackson as did former K-State running backs coach Brian Anderson. With Jackson, they figured, it might just be a matter of time before he makes an impact.
Jackson did more than make an impact.
On November 22, 2025, Jackson exploded.
On that evening, Jackson rushed for the most yards by a K-State player ever in a single game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jackson's 293 rushing yards at Utah topped Darren Sproles' previous record of 292 set in 2004, and it was the second-most rushing yards by an FBS player in 2025. Jackson's 312 scrimmage yards were the second most in K-State history and most by a Power 4 player in 2025. His 12.9 yards per carry marked the highest by a K-State player in the Big 12 era.
Klein during his initial spring news conference last week said that K-State has "probably as good as an offense to play running back as there is in the country."
That brings a smile to the face of Jackson, who ranks seventh all-time in K-State history with 5.37 yards per rushing attempt and who has 1,139 rushing yards in his 24-game career.
"As a running back, you love to hear something like that," Jackson says. "Coach Klein's versatility in the things that he does can open up a lot of different things, not just for running backs, but for everybody else on the field with wide receivers and tight ends. It's going to put a lot of pressure on the defense with the different packages we do with the running backs.
"I love Coach Klein, his competitive edge, his aggressiveness and versatility. I feel like he's one of the best play-callers in the country, and I love every bit of him. That's my guy."
Now Jackson looks to build off last season.
"I can build off it a lot," he says. "People might not see the small things I need to fix. There were a lot of small things that could've made things go way bigger. There are some things in there I still need to fix, and I can build off that a lot."
Where can Jackson most improve?
"Me being more patient with things, and me seeing things different ways, and me trusting myself and the guys up front, and not trying to rush, and making guys miss, and understanding the scheme more," he says. "Little small, small things like that can make it go a lot bigger."
He'll have ample support from Klein and Patterson, who came to K-State after serving as running backs coach at Oklahoma State in 2025. Patterson, who has also coached at Illinois and Purdue, helped Illinois running back Chase Brown evolve into a finalist for the 2022 Doak Walker Award. Brown, who ranked third in the FBS in averaging 136.9 rushing yards per game and was the nation's only player to rush for 100 yards in 10 games in 2022, went to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2023 NFL Draft.
"Joe is a dawg," Patterson says. "I like Joe. He's got a strong stiff arm. I've seen him put the wood on people a couple of times. I told him that the thing we're going to work on is getting into the open field and making some people miss. I want that out of him. I want to turn some of those 15-yard runs into 60-yard runs.
"He does phenomenal work and he's a guy who can handle taking the ball 25 times. These days, it's hard to have a guy who can do that, but Joe can carry it 25 times, lather up, and keep going. I'm excited to work with Joe."
Jackson says that Patterson's energy is "out of this world."
"I love that the most," Jackson continues. "He's never going to let you slack. Even days you come in pretty slow, I may have a bad day when I walk through the door, but it isn't long before we turn that around. I love Coach Patterson. He came in and set the standard really high with me as soon as he got here. I love every bit about him. He's going to challenge me. He's made a promise to me that he's going to challenge me harder than anybody has challenged me before.
"I told him that I accept all of it."
Jackson continues to work to improve himself not only on the field but in the locker room and running backs room as well.
"To be honest, me being a leader, I've been challenged with that the last two and a half or three years," Jackson says. "As a leader, I've stepped up in ways – I've been forced to – because people have been on me every single day. Even back home with my dad, he challenged me the most. With coaches here, I've been challenged since I've been here. That's the biggest thing I've changed — my leadership.
"Everybody says I do everything right. I'm an introvert, so I keep to myself a lot. I focus on myself. My biggest step I had to take was still doing what I had to do but also take everybody else with me. If I do something, I make sure I tell those guys, 'Come on, let's do this.'"
He's latched onto two transfers in particular.
Jay Harris is a 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior who transferred from Oregon after rushing for 151 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries while recording 89 receiving yards on six catches over 103 offensive snaps last season. Rodney Fields Jr. is a 5-foot-9, 193-pound sophomore who rushed for 614 yards and one touchdown while adding 276 receiving yards and another score on 28 receptions. As a freshman last season, he ranked sixth in the Big 12 in averaging 98.89 all-purpose yards per game.
"I feel like we've gelled like no other," Jackson says. "I feel like I've been with them a couple years, a long time. I've bonded with them really well. We push each other every single day. The biggest thing I like with who they brought in is that we're all going to complement each other, so I might not have to take whatever number of reps per game, because I have other guys who can come in and do the same thing, and we can complement each other.
"The biggest thing for us is we can all stay fresh. For our big end-of-the-season goal we want to get to, it's going to take guys rotating in and everybody staying fresh so we can keep pressure on the defense."
It's still 155 days until K-State kicks off the Klein era and the Wildcats open the 2026 season against Nicholls at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Yet the intensity and energy inside the football practice facility already is absolutely electric in spring practice.
"Today was probably the best day we've had so far from the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball," Jackson says. "The juice was very cranked up today."
Jackson is eager for what's to come in the fall.
"We can be really dangerous," he says. "We just have to keep bringing it every day and getting 1% better and build off each other. Once the season comes around, we're going to have some things going."
A lot can happen in a year.
Last year, Jackson transformed into a bonafide rushing threat for the Wildcats.
Now he could take another step in 2026.
And become of the top running backs in the country.
Players Mentioned
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