Kyle Whittingham hopes to have Ja’Quinden Jackson available on Saturday when Utah faces No. 5 Washington in Seattle.

In the 55-3 win over Arizona State last Saturday, Jackson reaggravated an ankle injury that has been nagging at him all season and exited early. The star running back was rolled up on as he reached the endzone on a 54-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter and did not return.

“He’s exceptionally tough. He’s giving it all he possibly can,” Whittingham told reporters at his news conference on Monday. “He gets it as good as he can throughout the week, then lets it rip on Saturdays. His status is still up in the air, but we’ll see how he feels this week.”

Jackson was once again listed as the starter on the depth chart this week for Utah, though that’s more a formality than anything. He has 598 rushing yards and two scores so far this season.

Since Utah’s bye week, Jackson had been trending upward. He ran for 94 yards and a score against Cal, partnering well with Sione Vaki in the backfield. Then he had 117 yards on 26 carries against USC the following week. He exited the ASU game with 111 yards on 13 carries.

If Jackson is unavailable against Washington, Utah will roll with Jaylon Glover. It remains to be seen what will be done with the Sione Vaki/Nate Johnson role.

Vaki was a game-breaker in the Cal and USC games — 370 yards of total offense, four touchdowns. He was rendered ineffective against Oregon and then didn’t play an offensive snap against Arizona State.

Whittingham has said all along they’ll limit his exposure on offense as he continues to fill an important role for the defense. The initial split was set at 70/30 defense, but Whittingham said Monday that could be overselling things.

“Somewhere in that neighborhood is what we think is probably the tipping point of not overdoing it,” Whittingham said.

Nate Johnson ran the read option well in the win over Arizona State — he finished with 79 yards and a touchdown on two runs — but he has mostly been relegated to backup quarterback duties with Vaki’s emergence. Whittingham wasn’t in a mood to divulge whether that’ll change as they scale back Vaki’s offensive workload.

“We’re going to do whatever we can do to supplement the offense as best we can and if it includes those guys that’s what we’ll do,” Whittingham said. “Can’t give away any secrets yet, can I?”

Utah meets Washington at 12:30 p.m. PT on FOX.