Lake Forest College football player A.J. Jackson was named Midwest Conference Special Teams Performer of the Week on Monday and to the D3football.com Team of the Week on Tuesday.
Jackson had four chances with the ball and was tackled just once in the Foresters' 44-0 rout of visiting Grinnell College on Saturday. Playing in his first collegiate home game, the freshman returned the opening kickoff 60 yards to the Pioneer 25 and Lake Forest reached the end zone just three plays later.
After forcing a punt, the Foresters took over on their own 18. On second down quarterback Bill Degnan completed a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Jackson, who split a pair of defenders and raced to the other end zone for an 82-yard touchdown.
Jackson fielded three punts in the second quarter and returned the first 85 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest punt return in program history. After a fair catch on Grinnell's second boot of the period, he hauled in the third at the Forester 42, sidestepped several would-be tacklers, and took it 58 yards to the end zone. Unfortunately for Jackson, a penalty at midfield negated the long return, which officially went down as an 8-yarder.
Jackson finished the contest with 235 all-purpose yards and leads the team with 335 after two games this year.
MWC Performers of the Week are selected by the league office. The D3football.com Team of the Week is presented by Scoutware and includes a starting lineup on each side of the ball, as well as a kicker, punter, returner, and additional special teams player.