Hogs’ KJ Jefferson May Have to Make Big Play One More Time

Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher doesn't go by numbers looking at quarterbacks

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Sep 24, 2022 12:42 PM EDT
Original:
Sep 23, 2022

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

Texas A&M Aggies

ARLINGTON, Texas — Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson needs to stay as hot as the temperatures here Saturday.

Even Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher has seen it.

"Every key moment in big games he seems to make the plays," he said this week as the 23rd-ranked Aggies against the 10th-ranked Razorbacks on Saturday night at 6 p.m. on ESPN and fuboTV.

KJ Jefferson-Missouri State — Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jefferson after scoring against Missouri State on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. (Ted McClenning / allHOGS Images)

That's good news for a large number of Razorback fans already starting to gather here while everybody's complaining about record temperatures (it got to 99 degrees at one point Friday afternoon).

Jefferson will need to be as hot as the temperatures, which are expected to be near 100 degrees near kickoff, but it won't affect the game in the climate-controlled AT&T Stadium.

Fisher had nothing but praise for the Hogs' quarterback.

"Those big moments when momentum has to occur, changes have to occur, the consistency in which he plays with and the ability to make those plays in critical moments," are the things he's seen with Jefferson.

"Going into last year’s game against A&M, our main concern was, ‘How are we going to run KJ? How are we going to run him?’" Hogs coach Sam Pittman said Wednesday. "We’ve got to get him revved up early.

Sam Pittman-Raheim Sanders-Missouri State — Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman celebrates with running back Raheim Sanders (5) after a score against the Missouri State Bears in the fourth quarter at Razorback Stadium. Arkansas won 38-27. (Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports)

"We’ve got to get him involved in the game early, whether that be running or whether that be throwing."

Last year was a coming-out party for Jefferson against the Aggies. Until the Hogs' win to snap a nine-game losing streak, there were more questions than answers.

Now it's just huge expections from fans for his fourth game against A&M. Fisher has even noticed the difference.

"You see maturity and experience (this year)," Fisher said.

None of that's news to Razorback fans.

But everybody knows how big this game is. Last year the Hogs got into the Top 10 and promptly got hammered by Georgia, but they won the trophy games.

That always starts against the Aggies.

"It was really important to us because we had been fortunate enough to beat Texas and then come back and beat Texas A&M," Pittman said. "I felt like it would do something for us on a national appearance, and I knew it would help us in recruiting in Texas."

Fisher isn't trying to make it a big deal.

"They’re all big," he said this week. "it’s one game.

"That’s what it is, but it’s a very important game because it’s the next one and you’d rather be on the top side of it than the bottom, I promise you, with what’s coming."

After all of that it is a big game because it's the next one.

Pittman likes to hype a trophy win, but that's more for public relations. He does know, though, that a conference loss now could make things tougher to have hope in November.

Which is what everyone's hoping for when the temperatures are hot.