Texas Football: Casey Cain ‘showing improvement’ under Chris Jackson

In his first couple of months on the job, it appears that new Texas football wide receivers coach Chris Jackson is already having an impact on the wide receiver room. We’ve already heard some marked improvement in terms of the technical aspect of playing the position this spring from the wide receivers under Jackson.

One wideout that seems to be making notable strides this spring with Jackson as the new WR coach is the redshirt sophomore Casey Cain. The 6-foot-3 and 195-pound boundary receiver is progressing from a technical perspective. More specifically, it sounds like Cain is developing his route timing and overall route-running ability.

A practice report from Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas on March 29 (paid content) notes that Cain is “showing improvement” so far this spring. Cain’s development in terms of his routes was one specific that was mentioned in this practice report.

We haven’t heard a ton about Cain’s progress so far this spring, at least until this practice report surfaced on March 29. Cain needed to have a big spring as he had a lot to prove given the amount of competition taking place at boundary receiver this offseason.

Texas has a ton of depth and talent for Cain to compete with on the boundary with the former Georgia Bulldogs sophomore AD Mitchell joining the mix along with the rehabbing redshirt junior Isaiah Neyor.

Texas football WR Casey Cain progressing this spring under Chris Jackson

If Cain even wants to crack the two-deep at boundary receiver heading into the fall, he’ll have to make some big strides this offseason to become a dynamic and consistent threat on the outside. Cain went into the offseason with some momentum, after he posted more than 100 receiving yards in the loss to the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl in December. It looks like he’s building on that performance as we hit the halfway mark of spring camp this week.

And while it sounds like Cain is on the right track in terms of improving his route-running ability this spring, there is still a long way he has to go to solidify a spot on the two-deep at boundary receiver this fall.

Furthermore, this is great to hear that Jackson is having an impact on some of the younger Texas wideouts this early in his tenure on the Forty Acres.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian wanted a technician that would get a lot out of the wide receivers when he was seeking a replacement for Brennan Marion in January. Jackson brings a strong NFL background to the table, as he was a wide receivers coach and assistant for multiple years with the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars going back nearly five years.

It’s worth mentioning that we’ve continued to hear great things about the progress of this wide receiver room this spring. New additions to the program such as DeAndre Moore Jr. and Mitchell have come along nicely as they’ve ingratiated themselves in this wide receiver room in the last couple of months.

Texas began spring ball with the first day of practice on March 6. As of the writing of this article on March 29, Texas has around a half-dozen practices remaining before the Orange-White Game on April 15 at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.