Roeland Park, Kan. - Bishop Miege continues to set the gold standard for football excellence. Despite the losses of key players each year, the Stags continue to reload.
Sophomore wide receiver Daniel Jackson has emerged as a legitimate threat for senior quarterback Carter Putz. Jackson had four catches for 186 yards and a touchdown last Friday during Bishop Miege's 27-14 win over St. Thomas Aquinas.
Jackson's lone touchdown came on a 98-yard pass which also doubled as the score that helped Putz set a new Kansas state record for most career touchdowns with 93 - and counting.
"It is an honor [to catch the record-setting pass]. Carter's a great quarterback, one of the best in Kansas," Jackson said. "I was just like going deep. And, you know, we do it all the time. It was a great throw into the wind. I never really thought it would be right on the money for me to score that touchdown."
Jackson's big performance carried greater emphasis for him considering it was a rivalry game that many year-after-year dub "The Holy War."
"Aquinas is our big rival. You want to always try to play your hardest every single game, but especially against Aquinas," Jackson said. "I was trying to make big plays. You know, it was a big game. We weren't scoring as easy as we normally do."
Stags Head Coach John Holmes certainly knows what kind of player Jackson is on the field.
"[He] had some big catches, in some games, in the first couple games of the year," Holmes said. "But, that 98-yarder kind of showed a lot of people what he was and that's what we already knew."
Jackson knows the rest of the season won't be easy now that he's emerged as a dangerous weapon for Bishop Miege. But, he said he's ready for the challenge of team's game planning specifically for him.
"It just really drives me to work harder and get better every week and get better every day knowing that they're gonna come for me. And, I'm gonna try to still do what I'm trying to do even though they've got a target on my back. So, just make big plays and work harder," Jackson said.
NOTE: The Hy-Vee 41 Five-Star Athlete of the Week segment airs during a new night in the 2017 season. The segment will air on Wednesday nights during the 10 p.m. sportscast. It previously aired on Thursdays.
