KJ Jefferson being himself on the field, leading Arkansas offense
KJ Jefferson is just being himself on the field for the Arkansas Razorbacks, and it’s working out in spades.
Ahead of leading the program into another year of battle, Jefferson spoke with the media about how he plans to lead Arkansas’ offense. Evidently, he won’t be changing up his style, believing to have already concocted the perfect way to play for the Razorbacks.
“I don’t think about it. It’s just me. I’m just being me when I’m out there,” Jefferson explained, regarding how he’ll find success on the field. “So guys feed off my energy, my mentality, my approach and my preparation. So I’m just being me, at the end of the day.”
Alas, that’s all well and good for Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, who’s thrilled to have Jefferson in-tow for another go-round.
“He’s having fun, he’s really confident, really doing a nice job and leading,” Pittman said. “You know it’s easy to lead when it’s positive, hard to lead when (it’s negative) and that goes for all of us, me included. But if you want to (succeed) you better lead in either category, and he certainly has done a good job with both of those. And I didn’t mean that any other way then you don’t have to be reminded because the entire team looks at him as a leader.
“You know, he does … but I think it’ll be a big year for him because I think he still thinks he’s got a lot to prove, and he does.”
Continuing, new offensive coordinator Dan Enos echoed those comments and was impressed with Jefferson’s grasp of the new offense.
“He’s really progressing,” Enos said. “I like where he is at. I really like where he is at from a run game standpoint and a protection standpoint. He’s doing a really good job of understanding our run game when things are not going to be good.
“Or on the flip side of that, ‘this might be a better play based on the structure.’ And he’s doing that at the line of scrimmage. Then, his ability to help us in some of our five and six-man protections. He’s grown a lot in those areas.”
Moreover, Jefferson had a great season last year. He finished with 2,636 yards, 24 touchdowns, five interceptions, a 68% completion percentage, 640 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns.
Throughout the course of his career, Jefferson has 5,804 yards, 48 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, a 65.5% completion percentage, 1,429 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns.
It remains to be seen if KJ Jefferson can lead Arkansas to the mountaintop, but he’ll have a heck of a shot at it in 2023, as the Razorbacks project to be one of the top teams in the SEC.
On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this article.