Gus Malzahn believes KJ Jefferson is a perfect fit for UCF's offense

Since the McKenzie Milton days, UCF has not had a consistent quarterback for more than two years. Milton served as the starter for three seasons and would have had a fourth had he not gotten injured at the end of his junior year.

True freshman Dillon Gabriel quickly took over and had a solid two seasons with the Knights and his third season was quickly cut short with an injury. He then stunned fans by entering the transfer portal after his first season under new head coach Gus Malzahn.

Then came John Rhys Plumlee who also spent two seasons with the Knights but struggled with injuries. With all the injuries through the years, other quarterbacks also took the field for UCF including Thomas Castellanos, who entered the transfer portal, Mikey Keene, who entered the transfer portal, and Timmy McClain, who again also entered the transfer portal.

Now going into his fourth year at UCF, Malzahn is set to have another new quarterback who is most likely playing his final college season as a Knight.

KJ Jefferson is UCF's latest quarterback and Malzahn is going all in on him. As a guy he himself recruited out of high school when he was still the coach at Auburn, Malzahn has had a good relationship with Jefferson. So when he entered into the transfer portal, Malzahn knew he wanted to get him to Orlando.

Malzahn loves the way Jefferson plays and believes he will fit right into the UCF offense that Mlazahn has built in the last three years.

"Well he definitely fits what we like to do," Malzahn said in his Big 12 Media Days press conference, "He's a dual-threat guy, he throws a great deep ball."

Jefferson has five years of experience playing in the SEC at Arkansas. 2021 and 2022 were by far his best years throwing for a combined 5,324 yards and 45 touchdowns with only nine interceptions. Malzahn states that his numbers did go down this last season but some of that was due to a new offense and not as many playmakers.

In an interview with Sons of UCF at Big 12 Media Days, Malzahn talked about some of the differences between Jefferson and Plumlee and while both came from SEC schools, there was one big difference that stood out to Malzahn.

"Probably the biggest thing [difference] is experience, he has more experience playing the quarterback position than John Rhys did," Malzahn said.

Looking at it on paper, Jefferson's numbers speak for themselves and he is a perfect fit for what UCF likes to do. That Knights offense likes to pound the running game and then catch the defense off guard with deep throws down the field. Jefferson will be able to slide right into that quarterback position with his ability tor un the ball effectively and throw the ball down field with great accuracy.