Trajan Jeffcoat relishing the chance to be back on the football field
In 2018, Trajan Jeffcoat played in all 13 games as a true freshman for Missouri. He was considered a leading contender for a starting spot at defensive end entering his sophomore season when an elbow injury sidelined him on the first day of fall camp.
The coaching staff described Jeffcoat as "day to day," but he didn't return to the field for the season opener. Nothing more was heard about him until October 5, 2019, when Missouri distributed a release in the press box moments before the Tigers beat Troy 42-10 in Columbia.
“Trajan Jeffcoat is not presently enrolled at Mizzou and will not be with the football team for the remainder of the season. In consideration of student privacy rights, we will not comment further on this matter.”
That was it. The Mizzou career of the promising defensive end from Columbia, South Carolina had come to an end after seven tackles, a sack and three hurries in one season.
Or so it seemed.
Just as suddenly as he was gone, Jeffcoat re-enrolled at Mizzou and rejoined the football team days before the 2020 season opener against Alabama. No reason was ever officially given for Jeffcoat’s year-long absence, and the third-year defensive end didn’t go into specifics when he made his first appearance in front of reporters in more than two years on Thursday afternoon.
But the why no longer really matters. Jeffcoat was gone, and now he’s back. And Missouri is clearly a better team for it.
“It was a big difference,” safety Martez Manuel said. “'Tree is a freak.”
Jeffcoat didn’t take long to make his presence felt. With a little more than four minutes left in the 2020 opener against the Crimson Tide, he broke through the line and sacked Bama backup quarterback Bryce Young on third down and eight. The play wasn’t going to turn around a game that had long since been decided, but for Jeffcoat, it meant the world.
“I don’t know, it just felt good,” Jeffcoat said nearly a year later. “I just did a victory dance, point to the sky, just thanking God for everything I’ve been through. Just celebrating with the team, just being back with them, just to hear from my guys. It’s just a lot. That sack was definitely eye opening for me.”
That’s what he missed. Yes, Jeffcoat missed playing football. But more than that, he missed his teammates. He missed being one of them. He said he attended most of the home games during Missouri’s 6-6 2019 season and watched the road games. He remembered specifically being present for the 34-14 win over South Carolina. He would talk to his former teammates during the week, offering critiques and suggestions based on what he had seen. He worked out and stayed in shape. But he wasn’t part of the team or, at that point, even a Mizzou student.
“Just recap on the game, talk to them,” Jeffcoat said. “Cheering them on, telling them things. That’s what a great teammate does.”
Never mind the fact that Jeffcoat was technically a former teammate at that point. No one outside the Mizzou football team ever expected to see him play for the Tigers again. But Jeffcoat said he always maintained hope.
“That never really crossed my mind,” he said. “I always knew that I was going to have an opportunity to play football. I always kept that mindset. I had tunnel vision for it.”
Jeffcoat kept in touch with many of his teammates during 2019. Fellow defensive end Jatorian Hansford said the two talked "all the time." He also maintained a relationship with his coaches. When Barry Odom was fired following the 2019 season finale, Jeffcoat’s pipeline to the staff was defensive line coach Brick Haley, who was retained by Eli Drinkwitz.
Under a new head coach and after more than a year without football, Jeffcoat rejoined the Tigers. It was a welcome addition both on and off the field.
“It meant a lot, because Jeffcoat is really one of the brothers,” defensive tackle Kobie Whiteside said. “So it was just fun. It was like a family reunion. When we saw him back, we was all excited.”
Former defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said some teammates were brought to tears when they found out Jeffcoat was coming back. They were excited they were getting a good player back, but the emotion had more to do with the teammate and the person Jeffcoat is.
“A really smart player and just a smart dude in general off the field,” Manuel said. “He’s super wise. We always have really intellectual conversations I would say. He’s just a really good guy to have in the locker room in general.”
Jeffcoat doesn’t talk like someone who ever took football for granted. It’s not that. But losing something—even if it’s temporary—provides appreciation when you get it back. And there’s no doubt Trajan Jeffcoat appreciates football.
“I definitely have an appreciation, but it never really changed. My appreciation for it was always the same, it was always strong,” he said. “First practice and first game was very exciting. As I was on the field I just kept thinking about the great things that God has brought to my life.
“It’s still exciting to be here with my teammates. Just continue to talk to them, continue to spread wisdom, listen to wisdom from them. I’m still excited. I’m still infatuated by it."
“That’s what I feel like makes him that much more hungry and grateful, because he knows that it can be taken from him at any moment,” Manuel said. “He’s just capitalized on every moment that he has.”
After leading the team with six sacks in a COVID-19 shortened season, Jeffcoat started to gain some notoriety. He was picked to the all-SEC first-team by the coaches at the end of the year. Two weeks ago, he was named to the 2021 pre-season all-conference second-team by the league’s media.
A year ago, nobody expected him to play SEC football again. Today, he’s viewed as one of the league’s best.
“I’m not really too worried (about recognition),” Jeffcoat said. “Staying humble, staying prayed up, grinding with my teammates. I’m not really worried. Just saying steadfast and keeping my mind focused.”
Following last season, Jeffcoat had surgery on his left elbow — the one he hurt in fall camp two years ago — which caused him to miss spring football. But he’s been back with his team working out all summer and hasn’t missed a beat.
“Got the chance to work out in Jeffcoat’s group and we get the chance to compete together a little bit and that’s what’s really been great,” grad transfer linebacker Blaze Alldredge said. “It was a great first impression.
"He's definitely a specimen."
As Whiteside said, much more succinctly: “Trajan Jeffcoat’s a freak of nature.”
Jeffcoat went through Missouri’s first camp practice on Friday morning with his teammates. Considering he had six sacks and made the all-conference team a year ago after spending a year away from football and hardly participating in the preseason, the goals are understandably high in 2021.
“I’m looking to do way better than I did last year,” Jeffcoat said. “Just keep grinding and doing way more. Every year I want to do way more than I did last year. I know that I'm back with a couple guys. Kobie Whiteside is back. I’m just highly excited to play with the guys.”
Missouri — when it was going well — developed a reputation at Jeffcoat’s position. The Tigers had eight defensive ends drafted between 2007 and 2017, five of them in the first two rounds. Jeffcoat’s name is appearing on some lists for players to keep an eye on in the 2022 draft if he chooses to leave school, and at least one of his predecessors has taken notice.
Jeffcoat signed with Missouri eight months after Charles Harris was drafted. No Tiger defensive end has been selected since. Despite the fact he was never on campus with any of them and probably didn’t follow Mizzou football closely when they played, Jeffcoat knows who they are and the standard they set.
“I study those guys,” he said. “I study Markus Golden, Shane Ray, Aldon Smith and I just look at what they bring to the game. The excitement they gave the fans, the presence that they were on the field. I just feel like us as a D-Line, we’re gonna bring that back. I want the fans to be excited. I want that feeling of watching the game, the crowd. D-Line, we’re ready for it.”
Could Jeffcoat’s name one day be mentioned alongside the players he studies?
“When I think of guys who can be in the conversation to be some of the greatest guys to come out of Mizzou, he’s definitely in that conversation,” Manuel said. “Just the way he approaches every day and the way he always has a smile on his face and is passionate about everything that he does from lifting to practice, you can just tell that he’s going to be really special.”
Jeffcoat is the headliner on a Missouri defense that will try to improve upon last year’s 5-5 finish under the direction of new coordinator Steve Wilks. It’s not that he shies away from that label; he appreciates the accolades. He just doesn’t think of himself individually. In a nine-minute conversation, Jeffcoat uses the word “teammate” eleven times. He says he wants to enjoy playing football, use it as a platform to inspire others.
“I don’t only want to bring just being a great player to the field, I want to also be a great teammate,” he said. “I want people to lean on me for encouragement. I’m not the only one on the field. It’s everybody that contributes.”
Trajan Jeffcoat: Just one of the guys. Again. Finally.
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