Speed Kills! KJ Jefferson Looking Forward to New Look

Senior quarterback ready to put Dan Enos' pocket offense in the rearview mirror

Author:
Daniel Shi
Updated:
Oct 25, 2023 4:04 PM EDT
Original:
Oct 24, 2023

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In what is most likely to be his final season in an Arkansas uniform, quarterback KJ Jefferson has been dealt an interesting hand at the halfway point of his senior season.

Learning ex-offensive coordinator Dan Enos' system just didn't work and after just eight games, Jefferson will have his fourth play caller as a starter. He is looking forward to the new wrinkles Kenny Guiton will bring.

"We're going to run the same thing, but it's going to be a slight difference for us," Jefferson said on "Halftime" with former Razorbacks quarterback Matt Jones on ESPN Arkansas. "Going tempo-wise and being able to do certain things that we're good at."

Jefferson looks to bounce back from one of his worst performances. He completed just 19-of-31 of his passes for 97 yards. The team was held to exactly 200 yards of total offense, 32 of which came on the final drive of the game where Jefferson's last-gasp Hail Mary attempt fell short of the end zone in a 7-3 loss to Mississippi State.

Ditching the 29 pocket passes Enos called against the Bulldogs may be a start. Jefferson hopes to return to what led the Razorbacks to 16 wins over the past two years and ranked in the Top 5 in total yards in the conference both seasons.

"Getting back to playing fast and making sure that (we are) doing the things we good at," Jefferson said. "In the past, tempo has been great to us. Being able to put points up on the board and get up on defenses quickly and starting fast as well. I would like to see us, moving forward, being able to boost the speed of the game a little bit and try to catch defenses in some bad situations and take advantage of it."

Guiton is banking on playing with more tempo to alleviate pressure on an offensive line that ranks 126th in the country allowing 4.3 sacks per game against FBS opponents and has affected Jefferson.

"It's pretty frustrating at times," Jefferson said. "It kind of messes with your confidence level a little. You start going through reads a whole lot faster and get anxious back there in the pocket. When the pressure does come back there it's up to me to make a guy miss or try to make sure I'm communicating with the O-line."

After missing parts of last season with injury, the expectations for Jefferson and the offense were high coming into the season. Ironically, it's been the defense that has been a presence for Jefferson when things haven't gone according to plan.

"I actually lean on a couple of the other captains," Jefferson said. “[Defensive ends] Landon Jackson and Jeffcoat, [Chris] 'Pooh' Paul, guys like that are getting things going on the defensive side and try and bring it on the offensive side."

Jackson, Jefferson and the new-look coaching staff will look to get their first win in nearly two months against Florida Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and fuboTV .