A.J. Jefferson is the defensive end who puts fear into the heart of every running back. Jefferson, a 6’3, 277-pound junior out of Summit, Mississippi, has been a disruptive force all season. This season, he has 12.5 tackles for loss. By comparison, he only had 11 in the previous two years. The closest output to his on the MSU team is linebacker Richie Brown, who has eight. Jefferson is also second on the team in sacks with five,while Brown leads the squad with eight .
“A.J. is a guy that from the first practice has just made things happen. Some guys are good athletes and then some guys are just good at the game of football and A.J. is one of those guys,” Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz said.
While the breakout has helped him gain publicity off of the field, it has also helped the rest of the team on the field. Ryan Brown plays defensive end across from Jefferson and having the offense focus on Jefferson opens things up for Brown. In the last four games, Brown has had 5.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
“It’s been a blast seeing my boy go off. It has opened up a lot of things for me,” Brown said.
Jefferson was in Brown’s position last season learning and playing across former Bulldog Defensive End and current Washington Redskin Preston Smith. While Jefferson was not a starter last season, when he played it was across from Smith.
“It’s been different without Preston here,” Jefferson said on the loss of Smith. “I haven’t been able to just sit on the sidelines and when he comes out ask him questions like what are they doing, what’s their tendencies and snap counts.”
Now Jefferson has had to step up after being a student the past two seasons. Now, in his junior year, he has become the teacher, teaching young defensive lineman like Anfernee Mullins, Fletcher Adams and Grant Harris.
“I went from one of the Indians to now being the chief. We have guys like Johnathan Calvin and Grant Harris who are willing to learn so it has not been pretty hard,” Jefferson said.
A.J. and the rest of the Mississippi State defense will have their biggest test tomorrow as they try to contain Alabama running back Derrick Henry. He is the Heisman frontrunner and will be the focus of MSU ‘s defense going into the game.
The Bulldogs will square off against the Crimson Tide at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow. The game will broadcast on CBS.
