KJ Jefferson shares why game against Auburn is ‘personal’

At 3-0 to start the season, it looked like Sam Pittman and Arkansas had found a groove. Then, the Razorbacks stumbled against Texas A&M, which was the first of three straight losses. During that time, quarterback KJ Jefferson was dealing with an injury. Now, a week after getting back on track with a win over BYU, Arkansas has a chance to make a statement against Auburn.

This is an incredibly important game for KJ Jefferson and Arkansas, one that he’s taking personally, as he explained during a press conference.

“Just being able to ride around the guys that don’t have any more years left to play, and then to do something that’s never been done here before,” KJ Jefferson said.

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“So, just being able to create our own history and just go out and just play for each other, play for the state of Arkansas, and just to go out here and play our brand of football.”

KJ Jefferson was then asked a follow-up question about how the players who played at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2020 are approaching the game.

“I mean, we know what happened when we went down there,” KJ Jefferson said. “So, I mean, everybody has the memory still in the back of their heads. So, this week, it’s more personal than anything. We’re taking it as a challenge. More personally, try not to leave the game to the ref’s hands. So, we just want to come out and dominate and play our brand of football.”

The last time Arkansas beat Auburn was during the 2015 season when Bret Bielema was coaching the Razorbacks. Beating Auburn this year would do a lot for Arkansas’ confidence moving forward in the 2022 season.

Sam Pittman on KJ Jefferson’s performance in return

KJ Jefferson returned to play for Arkansas in the team’s win over BYU. He proved to be a huge part of the win too. After the game, head coach Sam Pittman praised his performance.

“I thought he played fantastic. His runs weren’t going very good early. But I think BYU said we’re not gonna let him run the football…I thought it was really good when you don’t play for a week. We were fortunate that he practiced all week. I was real proud of him,” Sam Pittman said.

“Really proud of KJ. The third down play before half? I have no idea how he got out of that and how he made that play. That was probably the second-biggest play of the game.”