Make No Mistake, He’ll Overcome Miscue

Your name is Courtney Jackson.

In a misty rain, you’re sitting on the Arizona State bench. The clock is almost at zero, and then it’ll be official: You’re the goat of the 83rd Rose Bowl game.

So you do what comes naturally. You cry.

And you wonder: “Why me?”

Jackson is the freshman cornerback who blew the coverage on Ohio State’s game-winning touchdown catch by David Boston with 19 seconds left Wednesday.

The first reaction by a teammate was rage, Jackson said, by safety Mitchell Freedman, who ran at Jackson as Boston scored.

“He came up to me and yelled: ‘You gotta think out here!’ ” Jackson said.

“I told him no one will feel worse than I did.”

As Jackson cried on the bench, quarterback Jake Plummer pressed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and said nothing.

“When I got to the bench, I sat down and prayed that Jake could get us a quick score. I was crying,” Jackson said.

“Jake was great. He came up to me again in the locker room and said: ‘You’re gonna be a great player here.’ ”

On Friday, Courtney Jackson was back home in DeSoto, Texas, where he was comforted by his parents, seven siblings and friends at the family home. In a phone interview, Jackson said he’s “getting through it.”

“I’ve got great parents and that’s helped more than anything,” he said.

Jackson talked about the Rose Bowl’s deciding play and his teammates’ warmth in the aftermath.

“Basically, I was trying to be a perfectionist on a play when I didn’t need to,” he said.

“All season, and even earlier in the game, Ohio State had used that double-slant play where the inside receiver [Dimitrious Stanley] takes DBs inside, then cuts sharply to the outside and gets a low, line-drive throw. Boston normally just tries to occupy the cornerback . . . me, in this case.

“I don’t know why I did what I did [move toward Stanley]. . . . I guess I was just more worried about him than I was about Boston. Also, we were worried about a quarterback draw.

“What I’ll never forget about the play is the instant when [Ohio State quarterback Joe] Germaine’s eyes locked with mine, just for a split-second. When that happened, I kind of got cold all over, like I knew I was in trouble.

“I knew what I had to do, to get back on Boston. But it was like my brain was working much faster than my body. . . . I couldn’t get my body to move as fast as I wanted.”

Jackson said he’ll remember an earlier play as long as the misplay. “Two plays before that one, I nearly got a pick on a pass to Stanley. If I’d caught that ball, the scoring play never happens. . . .”