Arkansas Quarterback KJ Jefferson Has Left the Yard

While Razorback fans were focused on baseball, basketball, football leader quietly slipped away without them noticing

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Jun 7, 2023 9:59 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – So, for the younger readers in the audience, this is going to seem incredibly strange, but there used to be a public service announcement that came on that simply said, "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?"

These days it's easy to know where they are, but up until the mid-2000s that was a legitimate question. If a parent forgot to stick a head out the door and call us in, we were still outside playing, like we had been all day minus the breaks to come in and eat lunch and dinner. Children were so not present inside the house that parents had to be reminded they had kids running around in that wild world outside.

Well, I have a slightly different PSA for Razorback fans today.
It's early June. Do you know where your quarterback is?

Fans have been so caught up in emotion from baseball and the slow, yet fast-paced ever present transfer portal and NBA Draft in basketball, that they forgot about their quarterback. Don't worry. He's OK. He's outside playing just like he always is, he just isn't in your yard anymore.

You see, there appears to be a belief inside Jefferson that he can really do something with this last opportunity to lead the Razorbacks to a double digit win season. On top of that, there is an urgency to take advantage of the teachings of offensive coordinator Dan Enos to propel him to the elite future NFL star he believes he can be. That's why he's not in your yard.

He's on the West Coast in San Diego training like he's never trained before. He's doing drills in the sand. He's working out in the waves. Footwork, shoulder discipline, adding strength to muscles in his legs that have never been worked this way. He's going through it all to leave no stone unturned in his quest to not only be elite this fall, but to be The Elite.

Jefferson has grown in his sense of leadership over the years, but this is a giant leap in his progress. Over the past few years, he's led with a bit of a plow horse method. It was more of a "strap on because I am going to drag you to success if it kills me" approach. This year, even in the spring, it's felt like he's leaning a little more toward a race horse mentality. He's doing little things that not so subtly suggest that everyone around him better get it together because they're all running a race and Jefferson expects them to give him a challenge by being able to run side-by-side against him as he hauls it at neck-breaking speed toward the finish line.

Anyone who has ever worked with a team or a group where leaders are grown over several years knows what Jefferson is doing now is going to echo into the future. Once a standard and a culture is set by one leader going over the top, it pushes the next leader to be that much more advanced and willing to do the things necessary to achieve the ultimate goal. Out in that ocean in San Diego, a true legacy is being built. A standard of work ethic is being created for prospective future starting quarterbacks Malachi Singleton and Jacolby Criswell.

There's a different energy with this team. What we're seeing in Jefferson is a result of that. There's been so much turnover, it's hard to tell whether the talent's there to do any significant damage to the SEC this year, but it would be downright stunning to see this team give anything less than a bit more than these players think they actually have inside them.

Is there that kind of focused determination in every player on the roster? In all honesty, no. There are one or two who have shown through their actions and attitudes during practice that they have a little quit in them. However, when that happens, there are seven or eight players and coaches talking that mentality out of them and getting them snapped back in.

Coaches can create good. Players have to create great. There have to be leaders who spread that no quit, bring nothing back to the locker room desire to never lose to get to great. It has to radiate out and not stop until it spreads even to those supporting the players. When a coach is tired, he's got to realize he can't let a guy like Jefferson down because he wants it too much. When it's hot or cold in the stadium, it's got to inspire fans to want to give it their all anyway because they don't want to let him down. That's the message those clips of Jefferson working out sends.

It's early June. Do you know where your quarterback is?
Doing everything he can to bring the state of Arkansas a championship.