Arkansas football: 3 biggest questions heading into spring 2023

1. Is KJ Jefferson going to take that next step?

The growth we’ve seen from KJ Jefferson over the past two seasons has been impressive. He’s gone from “is he ready” in the offseason before 2021 to “wow, he’s actually good” just months later.

Jefferson had just 72 pass attempts in 2019 and 2020 combined and completed less than 50 percent of his passes. He had just 492 total passing yards, three touchdowns, and an interception in garbage time for a rebuilding program as a backup.

Then he took the reins in 2021 after Feleipe Franks moved on and he passed for 2,676 yards and 21 touchdowns with just four picks on a 67 percent completion rate in his first year as QB1. He improved slightly in 2022 with 2,648 yards and 24 touchdowns with only five picks and a 68 percent completion rate, but it wasn’t a huge improvement.

Is he going to finally take that next step and become one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC, and the country?

I think he’s talented enough but we’ll see if there’s some growth this spring.