Most Important Hogs in 2021: No. 1 - QB KJ Jefferson

HawgBeat is counting down the 10 most important Arkansas players for the upcoming 2021 season. Links to previous players in the list will be included below.

The success of Sam Pittman’s second season as Arkansas’ head coach likely hinges on how well KJ Jefferson handles being the full-time starting quarterback. That is true of most football teams at every level of the game, but it is particularly true for the Razorbacks.

A former four-star recruit, Jefferson has a couple of starts under his belt already and has shown glimpses of his potential - including at Missouri last season. Starting in place of an injured Feleipe Franks, he led Arkansas to its best offensive output of 2020, piling up 48 points on 566 yards.

If he can bottle that up and perform like that over the course of a 12-game season, the Razorbacks could have a dynamic offense this year. Treylon Burks is one of the best receivers in the country, Trelon Smith is a versatile running back, the entire two-deep on the offensive line is back and there are several other unproven, yet talented, pieces on that side of the ball. The biggest question mark is seemingly at quarterback.

Fans and media alike are intrigued by Jefferson’s skillset, as he’s a true dual-threat quarterback - the kind of player offensive coordinator Kendal Briles loves. As good as Franks was last season, he wasn’t much of a runner. Albeit capable with his legs, the tall quarterback from Florida wasn’t going to beat you with that part of his game.

Where Franks certainly had the edge, though, was his accuracy. He easily broke the UA single-season completion percentage record that had stood for more than four decades. It’s unlikely that Jefferson approaches anything close to the 68.5 percent of passes Franks completed, but if he can continue to improve his accuracy, it would help the offense tremendously.

It’s clear the Razorbacks plan on Jefferson being the guy in 2021. They didn’t pursue a graduate transfer or immediate starter in the portal and Pittman was pretty open throughout the spring about the Mississippi native being QB1.

If things don’t work out with Jefferson, it could be a rough season for Arkansas. Malik Hornsby is very talented and widely viewed as the backup, but he’s a redshirt freshman who played only a couple of snaps last year. Don’t be surprised if redshirt freshman Kade Renfro - the walk-on transfer from Ole Miss - is the No. 3 guy or even challenges for the backup spot, as he definitely doesn’t look like your typical walk-on, but there is still a pretty big gap between those two second-year players and Jefferson.

10. Montaric Brown - CB
9. Ricky Stromberg - C
8. Trelon Smith - RB
7. Bumper Pool - LB
6. Dorian Gerald - DE
5. Myron Cunningham - LT
4. Jalen Catalon - S
3. Grant Morgan - LB
2. Treylon Burks - WR
1. KJ Jefferson - QB