KJ Jefferson steps up to lead Hog offense to first 500+ yard game
Razorback nation braced for a bumpy ride as the SEC Network broadcast announced starting quarterback and senior Feleipe Franks would be unavailable for the Missouri game, despite traveling and warming up pre-game. Backup quarterback KJ Jefferson exceeded expectations, however, and led the Hogs to their biggest offensive game of the season.
Jefferson, with only 120 snaps under his belt entering the game, completed 18 of 33 passes for 274 yards and three passing touchdowns. He also added 32 yards on 13 runs with a long of 16.
The Razorbacks put up 566 yards of offense, which is 105 more yards than they'd put up in the next best game (Texas A&M - 461). They went 6 of 14 on third down and 3 of 3 on fourth down.
"I was really proud of KJ Jefferson," Head coach Sam Pittman said after the game. "I thought he stepped in there and played one heck of a football game. He got beat up at the end so we couldn’t really run him at all. He got hit on a sack and just tried to get through the rest of the game and did a nice job with it."
If the Arkansas players were nervous about going into battle with a redshirt freshman quarterback starting his first game of the season, they didn't show it.
"Coming into this game I believed in KJ a 100-percent," leading running back Trelon Smith said post-game. "He prepared all week. Me personally, he did an outstanding job stepping up for Feleipe and just coming in and playing his butt off. We put up 48 points on offense and I feel like he just did a great job overall today."
Pittman revealed they knew on Tuesday that Franks was going to be questionable on Saturday, therefore giving them a bit more time to prepare to play the Mississippi native Jefferson.
With Franks being a 2021 NFL Draft hopeful, Jefferson's performance is a window into what could be the future of the Razorbacks offense. Jefferson will have the most experience of all the quarterbacks in the room going into next season with John Stephen Jones and Malik Hornsby returning and Lucas Coley and Landon Rogers signing this month.
"Seeing K.J. have that confidence today was unbelievable," Linebacker Bumper Pool said. "He took command of that offense. When we got down, he didn't flinch, went to work, and led those guys so well. Made some great throws. I was so impressed with him and looking forward to seeing him continue to grow as a Razorback."
Jefferson's career completion percentage heading into the game was 45.4%. He showed major improvement to 54.5% in the loss Saturday and displayed an ability to complete accurate balls at each level. He was luckily bailed out on his worst play of the game, with Mike Woods snatching up the two-point conversion that was almost picked off.
