The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Passing Game Coordinator and Wide Receivers
A 10-year NFL veteran — five in coaching and five as a player – and former standout receiver in college, Chris Jackson joined the Texas Football coaching staff as the Longhorns passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach on January 24, 2023. He enters his third season on staff at Texas.
The Longhorns had one of the nation’s deepest wideout rooms in 2024 under Jackson. Transfer Matthew Golden, who was a 2025 NFL First Round Draft pick, powered the Longhorns with 987 receiving yards on 58 receptions (17.02 ypc) and added nine receptions, averaging 61.69 yards per game. DeAndre Moore Jr. hauled in 39 catches for 456 yards (11.69 ypc) with seven touchdowns and true freshman Ryan Wingo emerged into the fold with 20 receptions for 472 yards (16.28 ypc) and two scores.
The Texas wide receiver corps in 2023 was one of the most dynamic in the nation. Xavier Worthy earned first-team All-Big Conference accolades, setting career highs with 75 receptions and 1,014 receiving yards while hauling in five touchdowns. Adonai Mitchell had a career year, establishing personal bests with 55 receptions for 845 yards to go along with 11 touchdowns that rank fifth in UT history. Veteran receiver Jordan Whittington continues shined, hauling in 42 receptions for 505 yards and one touchdown.
In his one season with the Jaguars, Jackson guided the wide receiver unit to becoming one of only three in the NFL to have two players with 80-plus receptions in 2022 in Christian Kirk (84) and Zay Jones (82). Both totals were in the top 10 in Jacksonville single-season history with Kirk’s ranking eighth, and Jones’s tied for 10th. Kirk also achieved his first 1,000-yard receiving season with 1,108 to rank 14th in the league to go along with eight touchdowns, which tied for fifth in Jaguars’ history. Meanwhile, Jones registered 823 receiving yards and five touchdowns, and Marvin Jones, Jr., added 46 receptions for 529 yards and three touchdowns.
Jackson spent the previous four seasons in a variety of roles with the Chicago Bears. He was initially hired in 2018 during training camp in conjunction with the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship program, prior to serving as a defensive assistant for Chicago in 2019, and the assistant wide receivers coach from 2020-21.
In 2021, Jackson helped second-year wide receiver Darnell Mooney record his first 1,000-yard season with a team-leading 1,055 receiving yards and four touchdowns. In 2020, Jackson helped guide Allen Robinson II to lead all Bears receivers for the second-straight season with 102 receptions, 1,213 yards and six touchdowns, eclipsing 100 receptions for the first time in his career. It marked the first 100-catch season by a Bears wide receiver since 2013.
Jackson worked with the Bears in 2019 as a defensive assistant under coordinator Chuck Pagano after previously assisting the Bears during training camp in 2018 through the fellowship program. Prior to his time in Chicago, he served as the wide receivers coach at Liberty High School in Peoria, Ariz.
As a player, Jackson spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1998), Seattle Seahawks (1999), Tennessee Titans (2000), Green Bay Packers (2002-03) and Miami Dolphins (2003). Jackson also played several seasons in the Arena Football League where he was a standout wide receiver and the AFL Rookie of the Year in 2000 with the L.A. Avengers. He helped lead the Philadelphia Soul to an Arena Bowl XXII championship in 2008, recording 140 receptions for 1,692 yards and 49 touchdowns. Jackson totaled 325 receiving touchdowns in his AFL career, a mark that is still second all-time in league history.
Jackson played collegiately at Orange Coast College in 1995 before transferring to Washington State. In both 1996 and 1997, Jackson was a starter for the Cougars and a teammate of current Texas assistant coach Jeff Banks. In 1997, he recorded 54 catches for 1,005 yards and 11 touchdowns to earn honorable mention All-Pac 10 honors, helping the Cougars to a Pac-10 co-championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. The 11 receiving touchdowns is still a top-10 single-season mark in Washington State history, tying for seventh. After his collegiate career, Jackson signed with the Buccaneers in 1998, and following his professional career, Jackson was a physical education teacher before going into special education and then sales and merchandising.
In 2020, Jackson was inducted into the California Community College Football Coaches Association (CCCFCA) Hall of Fame. A native of Santa Ana, Calif., Jackson attended Mater Dei High School. He and his wife, Michelle, have three children: Almani, Deyton and Justus.
