The 10th and final receiver taken in Round Two of the 2008 NFL draft caught only 30 passes as a senior. He stands all of 5-foot-9.

So why are the Buccaneers, the reigning NFC South champions, likely to give Dexter Jackson a major role in his first NFL season? The answer lies in his speed — and what it might do for their long-suffering return game.

In their first 18 seasons of existence, the Buccaneers didn’t return a punt for a touchdown. Their struggles on kickoff returns — no touchdowns in the franchise’s first 31 seasons — was a long-running joke. And when an obscure receiver named Micheal Spurlock brought a kickoff back for a TD last December, snapping a scoreless streak of 512 games, the Bucs celebrated as if they had clinched a playoff berth.

Which brings us to the case of Jackson, who is best-known for shredding the Michigan secondary as Appalachian State upset the Wolverines last September. In time, the Buccaneers see Jackson earning a regular role on offense. He’ll likely get some work on that side of the ball as a rookie, but probably not as a starter.

But their plans for him on special teams are clear.

“They’re expecting a lot from me, a lot of good things from me: come in and be the starting punt returner and kick returner, and slowly get me little reverses, little short passes in the receiving game and slowly learning from Michael Clayton, (Maurice) Stovall and (Joey) Galloway,” Jackson said earlier this month.  

Jackson, who returned a pair of punts for touchdowns in his collegiate career, enters the NFL at a time when the profession is loaded with explosive returners. The list starts with Chicago’s Devin Hester, perhaps the league’s most dangerous returner since Gale Sayers. Then there’s Cleveland’s Joshua Cribbs, such a threat on both kickoffs and punts because of an ability to shed and run away from tacklers. 

“Roscoe Parrish,” Jackson chimed in, referring to the Bills’ punt returner, who racked up a league-high 16.3 yards per attempt a season ago. Parrish and Jackson are listed at the same height, something not lost on the Buccaneers’ rookie.

“I love when guys my size do good things,” Jackson said.

His position is one where size isn’t a prerequisite for success. Think of San Diego’s Darren Sproles, hiding behind a wall of blockers, or Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew — perhaps the toughest player, pound for pound, in the league — legs churning like pistons, scooting away from pursuers.

Dexter Jackson

Jackson’s biggest impact could come on punt returns, an area in which the Buccaneers finished 28th a season ago.

At the least, he seems to have the right attitude for the job.

“I like it because it’s a no-guts, no-glory type mentality,” Jackson said. “A lot of times when you take a risk, you’re going to make a big play because they’re overpursuing. … You’ve got to be relentless to field a punt when everybody’s coming down. You’ve got to make the first guy miss and make a play.”

He won’t be the only second-rounder expected to energize a listless return game. The Broncos, who all but blew a game at Chicago last season because of an inability to stop Hester, want Virginia Tech’s Eddie Royal to provide similar heroics. The same goes for the Eagles, who will put Cal’s slight but oh-so-fast DeSean Jackson back on kicks and hope for fireworks.

Asking a returner to simply not fumble the ball isn’t enough in today’s NFL, not when there are so many swift, skilled players on the receiving end of punts and kicks.   

As a teenager, Jackson was a fan of Dante Hall, the diminutive, more-quick-than-fast Chiefs returner who could stop and start again in an instant and helped Kansas City roll to the division title in 2003.     

“He had 10 other guys out there that wanted to make a play for him,” Jackson observed, “because they knew he would do his job.”

In Year One, Jackson’s job is anything but a secret.