USC head coach Steve Sarkisian will be keeping a watchful eye on freshman Adoree' Jackson this week.
The freshman two-way player left USC's win against Colorado last Saturday in the first quarter after re-aggravating his hip flexor on the game's opening kickoff. He remained in the game and played just a little over half of the opening frame.
By doing so, he missed out on all of the fireworks. Saturday was supposed to feature a return to the offensive side of the ball for Jackson. And with Cody Kessler tossing seven touchdowns in the win over Colorado, there certainly could have been some passes to come his way.
It was similar to the week prior in Arizona when Jackson was supposed to see some action on offense but, because of the injury, stayed on defense until he was relegated to the sideline.
In consecutive games, he's spent a significant amount of time on the bench because of the hip flexor.
Jackson sat out of practice last Tuesday leading up to the game against Colorado and his time on the practice field this week could certainly be limited, according to Sarkisian.
"We're going to have to manage him throughout the week," the USC head coach said.
Jackson's services will be needed against a Utah offense that has become a lot more potent, from a scoring standpoint, than a season ago under first-year offensive coordinator Dave Christensen.
LenDale White complimentary of Buck Allen's running style at USC
The Utes are averaging 37.8 points per game which is 21st in the nation and up from the 29.2 points they averaged last season.
If there's a positive to the situation, Jackson said, physically, he felt better leaving the Coliseum following the win over Colorado last Saturday than he did leaving Tucson following the victory at Arizona.
He's learned quickly that he can't do the things he once did in high school when it comes to playing with injuries. Despite having a bad ankle in the CIF championship last season as a senior at Serra, he ran with a noticeable limp and was effective scoring on a punt return and a kickoff return -- both were over 90 yards.
However, this isn't Serra.
"At this level, it's not worth it," Jackson said. "You just got to listen to your body."
His body and the USC training staff, has told him to take it easy the last couple of weeks, which isn't easy for him to do.
"It's always frustrating (when you can't play)," Jackson said. "I'm a competitor. I want to go out there and play as much as anybody so sitting on the sideline, I'm not used to it.
Kessler makes USC history with record-setting 7 TD passes
"It's not a feeling that I want to have."
In addition to taking over a starting role at cornerback in recent weeks, Jackson is also averaging 27.1 yards per kickoff return which is 15th in the nation.
