FAYETTEVILLE — Whether he gets a decision made before his senior season begins is still up in the air, but Sardis, Miss., North Panola quarterback Kenneth Jefferson is doing the best he can to check out his options.
North Panola coach Carl Diffee and Jefferson (6-3, 215 pounds) visited Arkansas on Monday and Missouri on Tuesday. Jefferson, a three-star prospect per 247Sports' composite rankings, passed for more than 3,000 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season
This week's visits followed ones he has already taken to Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Georgia, South Alabama and Memphis this year.
“I am just trying to go to the schools that have offered me and going through every thing to see how things go at each school,” Jefferson said. “After that I will make my commit when I am sure.”
Jefferson saw plenty to like at Arkansas and had the chance to watch a practice, tour the facilities and meet with Razorbacks coach Chad Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock.
“I had a good time being around their players and coaches,” Jefferson said. “They had a lot of energy. Coach Morris has a great staff and Coach Craddock talked to me about how they would use me. It’s just a real cool staff.
“They already have great facilities, but they are also doing a lot of renovations to make them even better. They showed me a video of everything coming in. It was real cool.”
Diffee was also impressed with what Arkansas has to offer and the fit for his quarterback, who currently has 10 scholarship offers.
“Coach Morris and Coach Craddock and the offensive staff, particularly, do a really good job,” Diffee said. “Coach Morris’ track record with quarterbacks is as good as anybody recruiting. Coach Craddock is young and energetic and has a great future ahead of him as a ball coach.
“I think the system and what they do fits KJ really well and I think KJ feels that as well. He is excited about continuing that relationship with them and possibly being a Razorback, but he is still going to go through the process and choose the best fit for him.”
Jefferson started his first high school game as a freshman and hasn’t let go of the reins since, completing 336 of 619 passes for 6,474 passing yards for 82 touchdowns and only 17 interceptions. He also has rushed for 2,006 yards with 17 more scores in his three years at the helm.
“He has been our guy,” Diffee said. “It’s not a matter of him being a good player, he is a great one, the bread-and-butter of what we do and why we do the things that we do.
“He has got a lot of upside to him, but he is continuing to get better. A lot of teams we play don’t like to hear that, but it’s the truth. He is going to be better on the field this year than he was last year.”
Jefferson led his team to a 13-1 mark last season that ended with a 59-26 loss in the state semifinals.
As a junior, he was 150-of-236 passing (63.6 percent) with 35 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. He also rushed 139 times for 1,325 yards, with 8 touchdowns.
“He is not only growing physically - he is now up to 215 pounds - but his command of the offense and knowledge are much farther along than they were at this point last year," Diffee said. "At this point in his development, he has seen a lot, but not seen it all. He knows he has to continue to be a student of the game and he is doing that.”
Jefferson believes it has been just a natural progression of getting better.
“It has basically just been a deal of building my confidence and just having fun while playing the game,” Jefferson said. “I’ve gotten better at decision-making.
“We had a lot of fun last season and we plan on going all the way to the championship next season. We are about holding each other accountable and putting in the work. We have a lot of our skill guys coming back, but mainly we just lost some big linemen.”