What Happened to Jordan Jefferson in 2020? DC Jordan Lesley Explains
During Neal Brown's first year at the helm, a lot of young and inexperienced players held rather large roles and roles that the coaching staff probably didn't want to put them in but had to out of necessity. Defensive lineman Jordan Jefferson was one of those youngsters that got thrown into action early in his career, appearing in eleven games.
Even though Jefferson played with extreme effort, he had a hard time fighting off of blocks and was still trying to adjust to the college game. For the big fellas in the trenches, that transition is always a little harder and tends to take longer for those guys to become highly productive.
After seeing a bunch of snaps in 2019, one would think that Jefferson's role on the Mountaineer defense would continue to expand. Unfortunately, that was not how things played out last fall. Jefferson only saw the field in five games in 2020 and saw very limited snaps in those five games compared to a much higher volume of snaps in 2019. Did he regress? No. In fact, the reason Jefferson didn't see the field as much in year two had to do with what defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley was calling as he explained earlier this week.
"2019 was a little unfair to him but I'll say this, '20 was unfair to a lot of guys going into their 2nd year because that development is so key to a redshirt freshman or a true sophomore. A lot of the things last year that I had to do for Darius [Stills], a lot of times didn't fit Jordan's skillset which is fine. We just had to move him around and we knew we were going to be at the time, a little unproven in the secondary so we had to be creative with what we did up front. A lot of that is also wasn't right in what Jordan is dynamic at. This year, again, a little bit different. People start to attack you differently and you need a different skill set in different situations, so now I think his role will increase."
With Stills now off to the NFL, Jefferson should see an uptick in playing time. However, he won't be in the starting lineup after Akheem Mesidor moved from defensive end to the nose this offseason. Dante Stills is slated to start at defensive tackle but Jefferson is able to slide over and play there as well. The way I view it is, this is the year for Jefferson to really grow as a player and become a contributor in some fashion. 2022 will be when the door opens for him as Dante Stills will be off to join his brother, Darius, at the next level.
Regardless, Jefferson is a name you'll be hearing and seeing a lot of this fall. He's one of the best athletes WVU has on the roster and Jordan Lesley can attest to that.
"He's had a great offseason. I don't know if he's the strongest guy but if not he's one of the top three. It's ridiculous how strong the kid is. He's needed."
Jefferson was also recently named to Bruce Feldman's "Freak" list. READ MORE about Jefferson HERE.
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