Is there a single player in the SEC who is more important to his team than quarterback KJ Jefferson is to Arkansas? I hear you, Alabama, with your Heisman Trophy quarterback; you may have a valid point. But I’m not sure even the great Bryce Young can put his team on his shoulders like Jefferson can.
The cagey and oftentimes lumbering junior quarterback displayed on Saturday the latest example of the intestinal fortitude that separates him from the others.
The stats were there as usual for all to see. Jefferson tallied his 8th career game with multiple passing touchdowns (3). He recorded his 3rd career game with at least 1 rushing and at least 2 passing touchdowns. It was his 6th career game with 3-plus passing TDs.
The Razorbacks’ 31-24 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday marked the 10th game in Jefferson’s 16 career starts in which they’ve scored 30-plus points. Jefferson threw for 223 yards and 3 TDs, completing 18 of 26 passes with 0 interceptions.
Ho hum, just another day at the office for KJ.
The Hogs scored in 4 of their final 6 possessions, with Jefferson producing in crunch time with the game on the line.
But Arkansas’ final drive may have been the most impressive, and it didn’t even result in any points. What it did do, however, was run off the final 5:49 of the 4th-quarter clock and secure the victory. It was the Razorbacks’ longest drive (10 plays) of the game.
And it’s where Jefferson shined the brightest and reminded us all that this is not your ordinary signal-caller. Two huge 3rd-down conversion runs only served to magnify the versatility that Jefferson possesses in his duffle bag of arsenals.
The first, a 3rd-and-9 scramble, resulted in a 14-yard gain, and the Hogs maintained possession clinging to a 1-score lead. He could have thrown to a wide-open Rocket Sanders out of the backfield, but Jefferson chose to not gamble by putting the ball in the air, and he securely tucked it and took off.
He came through again 3 plays later, running for 6 yards on a 3rd-and-2 that all but put away the game.
Last year’s team-leading rusher, Jefferson ran 18 times for 87 yards and 1 touchdown on Saturday. It came as a surprise, even to Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell.
“I didn’t think he was going to run the ball as much as he did,” Fickell said. “I thought they were going to have him slinging the ball more this year. He is a really good football player.”
Bearcats linebacker Wilson Huber lamented his team’s inability to corral Arkansas’ 6-3, 240-pound quarterback.
“There was too many times were he made us miss, ran through our arm tackles,” Huber said. “He’s a great player.”
Jefferson is the kind of player a team can prepare for and then find out it wasn’t at all prepared.
“It is tough, man — you watch so much film and then again, you got to have a little bit of respect and it’s not always like that,” said Cincinnati defensive lineman Jabari Taylor. “He makes things happen; when you’re out there, you feel the difference and you get a little jittery. You’re like, ‘Do I hit this edge or do I trap and cop?’ But yeah, respect to him.”
That’s what a talented and experienced quarterback can do. Arkansas tight end Trey Knox, who caught a game-high 6 passes for 75 yards and 2 TDs on Saturday, has watched the development first-hand, and the 2 have grown together to form a solid chemistry, as demonstrated on Saturday.
“Just that experience, man. I mean, he’s been in situations before, and he knows how to handle himself and handle the whole offense,” Knox said. “I know what he’s thinking, and I know if he pulls the ball, that he’s going to run right behind me, just those kind of things. It just makes playing so much easier.”
Yes, it would be a difficult task to come up with a player in the SEC that means more to his team than Jefferson does to Arkansas.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
