Michigan Football: 5 second-year Wolverines ready to step up

A different kind of playmaker

Another no-brainer on this list is wide receiver Giles Jackson, who burst onto the scene as a freshman with touchdowns as a receiver, runner and kick returner.

Jackson caught his first touchdown against Rutgers and then returned the opening kickoff against Maryland for a score later in the season. Around the same time that Hill started breaking out on defense, Jackson developed a bigger role on offense.

Against Indiana, Jackson caught a 50-yard pass. Then, he scored a rushing touchdown against Ohio State before catching four passes for 57 yards against Alabama in the Citrus Bowl.

To be blunt, Jackson is different than any kind of offensive playmaker Michigan football has had in some time and this season, Josh Gattis and Jim Harbaugh have to make getting him the ball more a priority. He’s the kind of guy that can take a simple handoff or a five-yard pass and turn it into 20 yards, if not a touchdown.

When Gattis talked about speed in space, Jackson is exactly the kind of player he was envisioning and more than anyone else on the roster, he provides an X-factor that Michigan football didn’t have before. Next season, the Wolverines will get a lot more use out of Jackson, who in my eyes, is a candidate to score double-digit TDs in 2020.