Alabama safety Eddie Jackson at ease carrying the football

Those days as a receiver at Boyd Anderson High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., seem to be paying off for Alabama safety Eddie Jackson.

Jackson has yet to line up on the offensive side of the ball in his Crimson Tide career, but that hasn’t stopped the senior safety from finding the end zone four times in his four years with the program.

This year, Jackson has scored on a 55-yard interception return against Western Kentucky as well as an 85-yard punt return the following week against Ole Miss.

“When I get the ball, I turn into an offensive player,” Jackson said. “All the things from high school, they just come back in play. I just see things and try to make plays.”

Jackson’s latest heroics came on a punt return in the second quarter of last week’s game against Kentucky. On the return, Jackson let the ball bounce at the 30-yard line before fielding it at the 24-yard line. He then immediately juked out a Wildcat defender before cutting to his left, dancing his way past five more would-be tacklers before finally going down at the 41-yard line.

“I actually think if I attacked the ball it would have been a touchdown or a bigger return,” Jackson said. “It just bounced, I just saw the cut, cut left, and then I see some of my teammates. I thought Hootie was going to make the block. But a guy was turned, his back was facing, so he didn’t want to clip him. So I tried to cut back and just tried to make something happen.”

Jackson is one of four punt returners the Tide has used this season, joining receivers Xavian Marks, Clavin Ridley and Trevon Diggs. The safety leads the team with 37.33 yards per return.

“He’s a very instinctive guy in just about all aspects of how he plays and what he does. I think when he’s back there returning the ball or he gets an interception he shows some of those same instinctive abilities to make the right cut, the right choice, the right decision,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “How to set up and use his blockers and those types of things...Eddie’s always shown great judgment, you know, to get that part of it done.”

Saban said the No. 1 thing he looks for in his punt returners is the ability to maintain possession of the ball and not give up field position. That might sound like a simple task, but with SEC defenders bearing down at full speed, it’s easier said than done.

“You don’t want anybody to take your head off,” Jackson said. “So you try to keep your eye on the ball and keep on the defenders running down the field.”

Jackson has proved equally adept at returning interceptions. Last season, he gained 230 yards on a team-high six interceptions, shattering Alabama’s previous all-time record of 163 interception return yards set by Hootie Ingram in 1952.

Earlier this week, Alabama receiver Calvin Ridley described Jackson as a “natural athlete,” and said the safety is talented enough to line up at receiver for the Tide. However, Jackson isn’t expecting to be included in an of Alabama’s offensive packages any time soon.

“I wanted to. I wanted to at least give it a shot,” Jackson said. “But Coach Saban, he ain’t having it.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2016 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Alabama safety Eddie Jackson at ease carrying the football."