With his brother documenting his every move, Cal wideout DeSean Jackson has developed into the most feared gamebreaker in the nation, as Oregon learned on a Saturday full of upsets

Jackson (above left) says that whatever way he gets it, he's expectiing to take it to the end zone. John W. McDonough/SI

By Phil Taylor

A field outside a school. The sun is shining on a little boy as he fidgets, unable to stand still. From behind the camera comes the voice of his brother, 18 years older and just a few years removed from running pass routes for the Kansas City Chiefs. "DeSean," the voice says, "when do you think you'll be able to beat me in a race?" It is 1995, and DeSean Jackson, age eight, looks into the camera, serious as a judge. "Tomorrow," he says.

The confidence, as with almost every aspect in the life of Cal wide receiver DeSean Jackson, is right there on the videotape. It is that quality, perhaps as much as the speed that makes coaches double-check their stopwatches and the moves that leave would-be tacklers staggering like frat boys at a kegger, that has made Jackson the most dangerous all-around threat in the nation. The football's mode of delivery -- by pass, handoff or punt -- matters not to Jackson. "Whichever way I get it, I'm expecting to take it to the end zone," he says. "Every time. It's kind of a surprise to me when I don't."

By Jackson's standards he had been suffering a major touchdown drought -- two whole games -- before last Saturday, when he contributed a pair of scores, as well as 11 catches for 161 yards (both career highs), in the sixth-ranked Golden Bears' 31-24 win over previously unbeaten Oregon. The second TD, which went for 31 yards, was a breathtaking piece of work, in which he slipped past Ducks safety Jairus Byrd, who seemed to have him pinned against the right sideline, and tightroped into the end zone. Cal (5-0) needed every bit of Jackson's heroics, as well as a fumble out of the end zone by Oregon wideout Cameron Colvin on what could have been the game-tying touchdown with 22 seconds left, to avoid becoming yet another Top 10 casualty on a weekend loaded with them.

With 25 touchdowns in his 28-game Cal career, Jackson, a 6-foot, 166-pound junior, makes the Bears six points richer every 7.1 times he touches the ball. Not only do some of his runs seem magical, but he also has the ability to make broadcasters look clairvoyant. When Jackson dropped back to field his first punt during the Bears' opener against Tennessee, ABC's Brent Musberger had barely finished telling viewers about Jackson's proclivity for scoring when he juked his way through the Volunteers for a 77-yard touchdown. Sometimes his 4.29 speed in the 40 makes his dazzling moves unnecessary, as they were the following week when he took a reverse 73 yards untouched against Colorado State. "He's as quick as Reggie [Bush]," says Arizona coach Mike Stoops, referring to the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner from USC. "He has that kind of explosiveness."

He just might also become the first receiver to win the Heisman since Michigan's Desmond Howard in 1991. Not surprisingly, Jackson doesn't hesitate to promote his candidacy. "I feel like I should do everything I can to win it," he says. "I'm going to try to create something special every week. I think it's hard for receivers to win it, but I'm going to make people notice what I can do on the field."

Jackson has raised a few eyebrows with that unwavering self-confidence. Though he stops well short of the look-at-me antics of Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson, Jackson will never be accused of false modesty, either about himself -- "A lot of people don't realize how good I am," he says. "I am one tough little dude" -- or about his team. It's likely that his recent prediction about the Bears' Nov. 10 showdown against No. 2 USC -- "We're going to give them a nice, good whuppin'," he told USA Today -- will make it to the Trojans' bulletin board.

"Some people might see DeSean as cocky, but he's not," says fellow Cal receiver LaVelle Hawkins. "It's just that if you ask him a question, he's going to give you an honest answer. He might say we're going to whip USC, but if you ask him about any other team on our schedule, he'll say the same thing. It's not about disrespecting anybody else, it's about believing in himself and his teammates."

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