Riley Jackson plays her way onto the USWNT

In July 2023, the North Carolina Courage signed a 17-year old Duke commit named Riley Jackson, as their first real youth player signing. Less than three years later, she’s off to Brazil as part of the United States Women’s National Team. How did she get there?

2025: Becoming a productive regular #

After mostly substitute appearances in 2024, Riley Jackson became a full time starter in 2025, and broke out.

She was an OK on-ball defender, although not a very active one. She was an OK dribbler, although she didn’t do it that often.

Where her magic lied was in passing.

She passed with volume. She completed more of them than expected. She progressed the ball with passing, often. She assisted shots at a very high level for a central midfielder. Anything that had to do with passing the ball, she did it.

A first callup #

As it sits in the NWSL offseason, the January camp is often a time for the US national team coach to expand the pool and look at new players. In January 2026, with a number of players (Lily Yohannes, Sam Coffey, Lindsey Heaps, Rose Lavelle, Jaedyn Shaw) either playing for European teams or playing in a European tournament, there were openings in the midfield on the main roster. After prior stints with the U-23 squad, Emma Hayes brought Jackson into the first team. Hayes noted the goal of bringing players like Jackson in.

Once again, our roster presents opportunity, for the coaching staff to evaluate players and for some NWSL players we haven’t seen as much in the National Team environment, as well as for some first-time call-ups, to show they can contribute in 2026, 2027 or beyond.

In her first cap, Jackson showed her quality. She came to the ball, turned on the reception, and put a 30-yard ball on a platter for Trinity Rodman in space, which became Jackson’s first USWNT assist.

2026: More of the same #

Coming into 2026, the Courage had a new coach in Mak Lind, a potential new system, and twelve new faces on the roster. Would Jackson be able to continue as a passing monster? Would her game change significantly?

Short answer: nope!

Jackson’s production in 2026 is Jackson’s production in 2025, only more so.

She’s creating more passing value. She’s making more progressive passes per game. She’s handling a higher percentage of touches for the team. She’s dribbling more often (although still not much), and she’s assisting 35% more shots per game, giving her more assisting value.

It’s not a wildly different player, and it’s not a explosive breakout. She’s just a little bit better across the board. By American Soccer Analysis’ g+ metric, she’s the best passing midfielder in the league (and it’s not close).

What has changed #

What’s changed isn’t her profile or production, but where and how she’s doing it.

In 2025, Jackson was part of a double pivot with either of Denise O’Sullivan or Shinomi Koyama. Either midfielder would go forward or stay back, as the situation dictated. Her touch map tilted a little bit to the right, but that’s mostly because the Courage’s buildup was heavily tilted to the right through Ryan Williams.

In 2026, Mak Lind introduced tweaks to the system.

In Lind’s preferred system, Shinomi stays deep, while Manaka Matsukubo goes forward on the left, and Jackson goes forward on the right.

What this does is get passing triangles all over the pitch. Evelyn Ijeh can drift into either channel to form a triangle with the winger and the midfielder. Jackson can also form a triangle to progress the ball with the right winger and Ryan Williams. Plus, it gets Jackson closer to goal where her passing can have more value.

After a few early games where Jackson’s positioning was a slightly more advanced member of a dobule pivot, this shift has become more pronounced as the season has gone on.

Her 2026 touch map tells the same story. She’s focused on the right side of the pitch, and she’s gone from having over 50% of her touches in the defensive half to being more forward leaning (to use some of Lind’s favorite words.)

Compared to 2025, while she’s completing slightly fewer of her passes (81.6% vs 83.8%), it’s because she’s playing riskier, higher value passes. Her average pass in 2026 is both longer, and more forwards, than her passes in 2025. The only NC midfieldr or attacker playing more aggressive passes is Ashley Sanchez.

Hayes continues to take notice #

With European (and Gotham) players available for the SheBelieves Cup, roster competition for midfield places was tighter. Emma Hayes did call Jackson in, but she looked to be the eighth out of eight midfielders on the depth chart, and did not play.

For the upcoming June friendlies against Brazil, Coffey was unavailable as she is recovering from minor knee surgery. Needing another deeper-lying midfielder, Hayes again called in Jackson.

Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Enquirer asked Hayes why Jackson was the choice over other NWSL midfielders. Hayes gave an extremely detailed response that went into both where she sees Jackson on the field for the USWNT (as a number 6), and where in the pecking order she has her (next up after Sam Coffey and Claire Hutton).

So, yes, Riley has has played a combination of a sort of a No. 6 and more so a No. 8 for [North] Carolina. And her data shows up differently in both of them, because they're both different roles. But one thing that is clear [is] that Riley is a well-rounded player. There's no doubt in that whatsoever. She can receive the ball with her back to goal under pressure and build up.

For me, this is, like, quality number one. Right? If you want to have control of a football match your No. 6 must be able to do that. And she can do that. She can receive it, she can redistribute it. She also can go and get in support of the ball from lower positions, and open up and switch the play.

All of these things really, really matter. Her football IQ, her football intelligence is really, really high even for her tender age. And as I’ve said all along, in order to develop successive competitive teams, you can’t just develop a group of 28-to-32 year olds that we focus on [for] that World Cup.

If Riley Jackson is in contention for ‘27, which she is, well then we have to provide [her] opportunities. Is she a player that I see on the roster for ‘28 [the Olympics] and 2031 [the World Cup]? 100 percent. So, she’s performing on a regular basis. Yes, she could have gone with the 23s, but there was an opportunity with Sam Coffey not there.

And for me, she is next in line, because of the qualities in possession that I think she has above every other 6 that she’s competing [against] across the country. And I think she’s been working hard at the other pieces, especially defensively, getting up to the ball. And like I said, her soccer IQ is very, very high. So, I have no doubts about Riley whatsoever.

I think the fact that she’s been in and around us a few times, it’s easy enough. She knows the language, she knows the playing style. I think it’s another good step for her. Another good experience.

Where Jackson can still improve #

Hayes alluded to Jackson working on her defense. Jackson’s not a bad defender, but she’s not an exceptional one. She’s not a big aerial battler, and she’s never provided a huge amount of value directly via tackling. She mirrors the person she’s marking, and then provides defensive value by recovering loose balls and the occasional interception.

The other area Jackson can improve on is her shooting.

Jackson has yet to take a ‘good’ shot by xG terms (over 0.15 xG) this year. Of her 16 shots, half are outside the box, and she’s only put three of her shots on target overall.

It is a small improvement over her shot selection last year (where 14 of her 17 non-penalty shots were this sort of low-xG crank from distance). I do appreciate the confidence. And as the year goes on we may get a 25-yard banger or two. But given her passing skills, it’s likely that they’d create more value working for a better shot than letting it rip from outside the box.

Opportunity in Brazil #

Riley Jackson has continued her rapid ascent, both with the Courage and with the US national team. She’s the metronome of the Courage offense, and Emma Hayes has touted her not just as the future of the team for the 2031 World Cup, but a player that’s in contention for a 2027 place.

Next up is two matches against Brazil. Hayes sounds like she’ll be giving Jackson an opportunity on the field. Those of us who’ve watched her in NC will be excited to see when she does.