26. KJ Jefferson, UCF Knights
After five seasons with the Arkansas Razorbacks, KJ Jefferson is using the COVID eligibility roles to give himself one more chance with the University of Central Florida. He transferred and will be handed the job, barring something crazy (more on that in a moment).
Jefferson has experience in a superior conference, excelling at times in the SEC. Moving to the Big 12 will only help his numbers. Even spending his first year in the Orlando area, Jefferson should be able to transition to UCF easily. He already broke multiple records at Arkansas, but he also showed a talent that makes him very hard to play against.
His biggest detriment to his value is his arrest this offseason. It is not good for any college player to get arrested in the offseason. It brings bad headlines to the program, and luckily, this arrest was only related to reckless driving and not something more serious. Still, it puts an unnecessary microscope on Jefferson, even if the incident happened back in May 2023.
That will put extra pressure on Jefferson to move past the alleged incident. He needs to keep his head down off the field and keep his head up on it. If he can continue to showcase his abilities on the field, then that’s all that will matter by the end of the season.