WATCH: NC State Sophomore WR Keenan Jackson Highlights Personal Growth Heading into Year 2

Sophomore Wide Receiver Keenan Jackson met with the media recently, and he highlighted how much he has grown heading into Year 2 at NC State. He also highlighted the growth of Sophomore Quarterback CJ Bailey and Senior Cornerback Devon Marshall. You can watch the video above, and read the transcript below.

How much do you think you’ve grown since this time last year? 

Put on about 10 pounds or so, but definitely the biggest growth has been mentally and maturity. Growing up, learning how to be a college football player, trying to carry myself as a pro.

Learning how to have a routine and show up to work every day.

Along those lines, you have a family of pros and college players. How much did that kind of help with your adjustment? 

Anybody I could talk to, just give me a piece of advice, I’m always grateful for that. I try to soak up everything I can and just learn something from every conversation I have, whether it’s someone who’s played in the level I want to get to or just someone on the street. 

How has this year’s fall camp been different than last year’s? 

I feel like we’re closer of a group. I feel like we’re doing a better job competing and meshing as a team. I feel like we’re spending more time in the building. I like our schedule a lot better this year. Guys are spending a lot of time in a team room or in the lounge, just kicking it.

What about the growth that you’ve seen from CJ (Bailey) from last season up to now?

It’s leadership for sure. He’s definitely taking that role very personally.

He’s the guy. He’s the one getting us going. He’s setting the huddle. He’s not letting guys lazy jog into the huddle. It’s ‘Come on, let’s get to it.’

On the field stuff…obviously placement, accuracy, all that type of stuff, you see him growing every single day. I’m excited to play with him this year. 

As a receiver, do you take pride in being able to be versatile, to be inside, to be outside? 

Yeah, definitely.

Something I’m trying to work on this year. Versatility is a great trait to have about yourself. So just trying to grow in that for sure.

Who are some of the toughest defenders to compete against in practice? 

Devon Marshall, great corner. He’s been around. He’s in his fourth year this year. So I like to go against him, I mean, we talk back and forth a lot on the field, but he’s in my locker. Our lockers are right across from each other.

So we can say whatever, compete every single day on the field, and then we come back in and we’re just laughing about it.

Jackson Vick, great corner as well.

All these guys have been pushing us.

What was your welcome to college football moment and what did you learn from it? 

Welcome to college football moment, I would say versus LA Tech last year. A group of five school, but there’s no slouches in college football. I’m running an inside center corner route, and a dude that was not looking at me before the snap, completely reacted to me, and I ended up on the ground.

So that was definitely a welcome to college football moment. It taught me this is not high school. I’ve got to be alert. I’ve got to be alert for everybody on the field. So I definitely learned from that, and it didn’t happen again.

Keenan, what have been some of the memorable moments so far throughout practice, almost a week now? 

I’ll say Caden Noonkester. He wore a really funny outfit to the team meeting yesterday or two days ago. I don’t really know the character that he was trying to represent. I hadn’t watched the movie, but it was really funny.

He put up with a little colorful backwards hat on, and the Special Teams room got a good laugh at that. 

As far as the play on the field, what’s been sticking out to you, on either side of the ball? 

Noah (Rogers) made a really good catch on the fade ball today. I think it was the first play.

It was good to see. It kind of looked like the catch from the UNC game, so that was cool. 

You mentioned Devon, going against him, how much have you seen him improve from last year to this year?

I think I’ve seen him improve the most as a leader, just being that dude in that room. He started last year as a backup, so just seeing him command the starting role and push the guys.

He’s not the most out front vocal leader, but I know he’s very vocal in that room with those guys. So seeing him be a dominant force, I know that every time I’m lined up against him, he’s going to give me a good rep, never slacks. 

What’s been one of those examples of leadership from CJ (Bailey) that showed you this year he’s a different kind of guy out there leading you?

Yesterday we had a guy drop a ball for a touchdown, and he came up to him and really refocused him in. I mean, obviously, he got chewed out by the coach, but he just focused him back in. He’s like, ‘All right, man, are you back? That plays over with, but I need you this next drive, so let’s get to work. All right.’