The Habe on the Horns | Jefferson Stakes His Claim, Even Before He Plays a Down

The Habe on the Horns By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN – The initial press availability for the Texas football team on Aug. 6 provided plenty of news and potential storylines but none was bigger than Malik Jefferson’s rush to front and center for the Longhorns even before he’s officially played a down in a college football game.

Jefferson, the true freshman linebacker from Mesquite Poteet, was the first player to enter the team lounge for the press conference and quickly drew the most attention from the gaggle of reporters on hand to cover the event.[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] (Continue reading below…) 

(…Continued from above) You can read into it what you like – but remember when freshmen were verboten from speaking to the press until they played in a game? Heck, it wasn’t that long ago that the Texas A&M media relations staff kept Aggies quarterback Johnny Manziel away from the press for almost an entire season while he was on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy.

Jefferson is an effervescent personality and the “face” of the future of the Texas program. He’s proved to be well-mannered and good quote, smiling brightly while saying all the right things about his desire to improve and contribute, about the attitude of the team and about the impact he thinks the Longhorns incoming freshman class will have on the season.

He’s bulked up in the offseason from 217 to 240 pounds and is already a go-to guy for his fellow freshman teammates.

“Those guys look up to me every day and ask me questions,” Jefferson said. “I try to help them with what to do and what not to do.”

The biggest adjustment for Jefferson so far has been the speed of the college game – and he’s just played against his fellow Longhorns in practice, not the likes of the TCU and Baylor and Oklahoma and Notre Dame attacks. All those teams are ranked in the preseason top 20 and Texas will have to play each of them on the road.

“It’s not really a hard game,” Jefferson opined. “You’ve got to study and know what you’re doing, of course, but it’s always going to be the speed of the game. It’s just faster. It takes time.”

Texas coach Charlie Strong, who either had an agenda by rolling out Jefferson as his first player or was just throwing caution to the wind (you pick), said the expectations already heaped on Jefferson are daunting. “He just has to go out and be himself,” Strong said.

But defensive coordinator Vance Bedford might have assessed Jefferson’s status the best way, saying “Malik doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. But he does understand what’s expected of him.”

The proof will be in Jefferson’s play when the lights are on come Sept. 5. Perhaps he’s really a football prodigy and the game will be as easy from him as he believes. One thing’s for sure, he’s a real difference-maker.

Strong is in search of a leader and he’s found one in Jefferson.

Just sayin’, ya know?

The Habe is Steve Habel, Horns Illustrated’s senior editor. He was the magazine’s first staff member, in 1994, and has covered Texas sports ever since.

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