A Look at Poly Junior WR

Going in to next season, two wide receivers stand out as the best prospect at their position in Southern California. One is Austin Usher out of Los Angeles (Calif.) Jefferson and the other we really like is Long Beach Poly's (Calif.) Desean Jackson.

Jackson, 5-11, 170 pounds started out the year playing in the shadows of senior Derrick Jones but by the end of the year, was the Jackrabbits go to guy. Although he's not as fast as Jones, we actually like Jackson better as a college prospect.

Jackson has great hands, probably the best hands of any receiver we've seen out West this year with the exception of Michael Bumpus. We also love the way Jackson can run after the catch. Every time he gets the ball in his hands, he'll make at least two or three defenders miss him and also has the speed to go the distance.

After a slow start to the season, Jackson finished with a bang ending the year with 43 catches for 821 yards and 11 touchdowns to earn All-League and All-CIF 1st team honors. No one has offered yet but we feel it's only a matter of time before they're pouring in.

"USC is my top school followed by Oregon, Florida State, Washington State and Miami," Jackson said. "USC is the local school and doing real well and I also have some family in Oregon so they're real high on my list too. I'm not looking to commit early though, I want to take my trips and play things out next year."

This spring and summer should be a lot of fun watching Jackson and Usher at various passing tournaments and at the Nike Camp to determine who's the top guy in the region.