It didn’t come with the same adulation as his toe-drag touchdown catch against Nebraska in the 2023 season opener nor the national praise and awards that were heaped on the one-handed spinning TD snag — while being interfered with — in the Michigan loss in September.

But Gophers receiver Daniel Jackson’s catch in the fourth quarter of the 25-17 win over Illinois on Saturday was sneaky special. And, in a way, it was fitting the highlight didn’t spread much outside Minnesota.

With the Gophers trailing 17-16 in the fourth quarter, Jackson ran a stop-and-go route down the sideline. At the top of his route, some 25 yards downfield, he slowed down and baited cornerback Jaheim Clarke into thinking the pass was not coming. Jackson then put his hands out late to catch it and get two feet down in bounds for a 37-yard completion. Clark didn’t know what happened.

“It is supposed to look simple and routine, but that is actually more difficult than I think people are saying,” head coach P.J. Fleck said.

Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry knew that type of play was in Jackson’s repertoire.

“Daniel Jackson is probably the most underrated receiver in the country,” Henry said in the week leading up to the game in Champaign, Ill. “That young man is absolutely special. He’s just done his job every single year, and he flies under the radar. When catches or big plays need to be made, that guy is always on the radar.”

Jackson was a second-team all-Big Ten selection last year, so he’s far from an unknown performer, but he is poised to join some rarified air in the Gophers record book and within the newly expanded conference.

Jackson thanked Henry for his praise. “But it’s still something I have to prove and go get better every day, so it kind of goes in one ear and out the other,” he said last week. “Because you are still focusing on your team, yourself and getting better every day.”

Only 17 players league-wide have career production above 200 catches, 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns, according to the Gophers. Jackson is on the verge of joining the group. Going into the Rutgers game at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jackson has 189 receptions for 2,464 yards and 17 touchdowns. That leaves three games for him to join the elite club.

Entering this season, those 17 wideouts included two Gophers: Eric Decker and Tyler Johnson. It also includes household names: Rome Oduze (Washington), JuJu Smith-Schuster, Robert Woods, Marqise Lee and Dwayne Jarrett (Southern California), David Bell (Purdue), K.J. Hill (Ohio State), Braylon Edwards (Michigan) and others lesser-known players. Eight programs don’t have a member.

Jackson is in line to lead the Gophers in receiving for a third straight season, which only Decker and Johnson have done before him. He has 56 receptions for 642 yards and three touchdowns in 2024. Minnesota’s improved passing game is led by Jackson, who is 24th in the nation with 6.2 receptions per game.

Going into the Illini game, DC Henry said Illionois would need to do a “really good job of understanding” where Jackson was lined up. It was Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh’s job to make that hard and still get the ball to the senior playmaker.

Harbaugh wants to add “layers” through shifts and motions to make it harder to know what play might be coming after the snap. “How many different ways can we start with the same formation or shift and get to multiple different plays to see the picture that we want to be able to see?” Harbaugh asked. “That is one thing that I think has helped us a ton this year.”

Harbaugh’s call sheet has different sections and then he circles things with the intent of: “I need to get Daniel the ball in this situation. This is a surefire catch, let’s throw the ball to him.”

Henry tried to take Jackson away and the U still targeted him 10 times — and he came down with five receptions for 74 yards. That 37-yard completion set up the game-wining touchdown.

Quarterback Max Brosmer said the way Jackson sets up his routes separates himself on the field.

“I think the way that he runs his intermediate routes and his deep routes: they all look the same,” Brosmer said. “I think for a receiver to be successful anywhere, you have to make sure that you can mask the stems of your routes as best as possible because you want to keep the DB on their toes before they have to guess where he’s going. When he makes that move, it is extremely fast (Brosmer snaps his fingers) and it’s very definitive to where he is going.

“When you are a quarterback, you don’t want to be guessing about when or where he is going to be (there),” Brosmer said. “He does a really good job.”

Part of Jackson’s underrated reputation comes with questions about whether the 6-foot, 195-pounder has much of an NFL future; it has been a topic on TV broadcasts of Gopher games. Fleck said approximately 100 NFL scouts have come through the U’s Larson Football Performance Center over the course of this season.

“We talk about Daniel a lot,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “Daniel has specific skill sets, where he can play inside/outside. He’s a really good option-route runner. He’s got a great feel for coverage, has a great spatial awareness, good center of gravity. He’s got unique strength and quickness, short area burst. Great balance. That is hard to find, all of those traits in one player. There is definitely a role for him in the National Football League as he continues to play and go through the (scouting) combine process and the interview process. They are going to like Daniel Jackson more and more and more the more time they spend with him.”

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