KJ Jefferson Can Do Enough for 4 More Wins, But By Himself?

Razorbacks need offensive guys around quarterback to be more consistent

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — You can't really put Arkansas' five straight losses at the feet of quarterback KJ Jefferson. He's done his job without any particularly big stat lines. As well as he's performing, KJ's shoulders aren't big enough to carry this team to four more wins by himself.

While his runs where the big quarterback simply plows over people gets the fans and media excited, the coaches probably would be happier if they never saw him have to do that again. He takes off running pretty quickly either because receivers aren't getting open or he doesn't have time to read it. That results in these plays everybody cheers. He shakes off some sacks and takes off.

""He makes one or two of these plays every week," running back Rashod Dubinion said. "Somebody will miss a block or something and he makes them get off him, scramble, dump it off."

Bouncing off guys may be exciting and what he's always done since high school, but it usually ends up causing a problem sooners or later. I've seen quite a few guys bigger than Jefferson get knocked backward by a smaller defensive player. Former Razorback Steve Atwater made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame doing things like that. Running quarterbacks are always more at risk for concussions or to blow out a knee.

"He finally had success — big success on a run," Hogs coach Sam Pittman said after the 24-21 loss at Alabama. "For whatever reason that kind of gets you motivated, gets him motivated. Then he was dead to rights on that one, came out of it, made a big play, went down and scored off of it later on."

Now to reach a bowl game, the Hogs have to win four of their last five games against Mississippi State, Florida, Auburn, Florida International and Missouri. All of those teams except FIU have better records than the Razorbacks and Mizzou is already bowl eligible.

The first step in that journey is Saturday at 11 a.m. in Razorback Stadium against the Bulldogs. The game will be on ESPN and fuboTV.

HOGS FEED:

HISTORY WITH MISSISSIPPI STATE SUGGESTS RAZORBACK FANS SHOULD USE CAUTION ON PREDICTIONS

IT MAY BE ABOUT TIME FOR SAM PITTMAN TO QUIT HOPING TO BE CLOSE SO MUCH WITH RAZORBACKS

ARKANSAS FANS CAN NOW TRULY RELATE TO CLASSIC CARTOON CHARACTER

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