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Ruben Jackson Returns, Joins Two New Receivers

January 8, 2009 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Stockton Lightning News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Lightning of the arenafootball2 league have announced WR/DB Ruben Jackson, Dennis Bishop and Willie Johnson have been assigned to the Lightning by the af2 League Office.

Jackson, 24, joined the Lightning last season on June 18, 2008 and finished the year ranking third on the Lightning with 384 receiving yards, additionally tallying 31 catches for nine touchdown receptions. In just his third game in a Lightning uniform, Jackson caught a Lightning season-best 11 catches for 122 yards and three touchdown receptions on July 5, a 50-48 win for the Lightning over the Central Valley Coyotes.

The 5-foot-11, 197-pound receiver was a product of Stockton's Edison high school and split his four year college career (2003-2006) between City College of San Francisco (2003-2004), and Oregon State University (2005-2006), earning 2004 Junior College Athletic Bureau California Community College first team All-American., first team all-region, and was rated as one of the top 150 junior college players in the nation.

While at Oregon State, Jackson was used in a versatile role, tallying 27 catches and 455 receiving yards in 20 career games along with two touchdowns, and 137 career rushing yards. He added four returns for 67 kick-return yards as a 2005 junior.

Bishop, 25, returns to the Northern California region after splitting his college career between Missouri Southern State University (NCAA Division-II) and City College of San Francisco, a junior college teammate of Jackson. In his final season at Missouri Southern State in 2005, Bishop recorded four tackles in nine games.

Johnson, a native of Redding, Calif., was predominantly utilized on the defensive side of the ball during his career with Kansas Wesleyan University (NAIA), recording three interceptions (tying the team's lead as a 2007 senior) while posting 56 tackles and 3.0 tackles for loss in 10 games in his senior year. In his two-year career for the Coyotes, Johnson appeared in 20 games while amassing 99 tackles, 9 interceptions and 7.0 tackles for loss.

Johnson's career-high six interceptions led the KCAC Conference and ranked fifth in the NAIA as a 2006 junior, garnering NAIA All-American (honorable mention) and first-team All-KCAC honors. Prior to his transer, Johnson competed in junior college at Shasta Junior College (Calif.).

The Lightning open the 2009 af2 regular season on Sunday, March 29 against the Central Valley Coyotes with a Week One road matchup at Selland Arena, starting at 7:00 p.m. Both teams face a Week Four rematch in the Lightning home opener on Saturday, April 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Stockton Arena.

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