John Jefferson
Encyclopedia
John Jefferson is a retired American football
wide receiver in the National Football League
(NFL). He was selected out of Arizona State University
in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft
by the San Diego Chargers
. He played three seasons in San Diego, where he became the first NFL player to gain 1,000 receiving yards in his first three seasons. He was traded to the Green Bay Packers
after a contract dispute with the Chargers, and later finished his playing career with the Cleveland Browns
.
from 1974 to 1977. Jefferson's breakout year occurred in his sophomore season (1975) when he led the Sun Devils with 52 receptions and 921 yards receiving on the way to a perfect 12-0 season and an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl
, where he was also named Most Valuable Player
. ASU finished second in the national polls, its highest ranking in history.
A consensus All-America
n selection in 1977 and two-time All-Western Athletic Conference
pick, Jefferson concluded his career with an NCAA record 42 consecutive games with a reception. He remains the ASU leader in career receptions with 188 and career receiving yardage with 2,993. Recognized as Arizona Amateur Athlete of the Year in 1977, he was twice selected as the Sun Devils Most Valuable Player and led the team in receiving all four years. The 1977 campaign was the Sun Devils' last in the WAC; in 1978, ASU and their in-state archrival, the Arizona Wildcats
, joined the Pacific 10 Conference.
by the San Diego Chargers
. Jefferson made an immediate impact in the NFL, finishing his rookie season with 56 receptions for 1,001 yards and a league-leading 13 receiving touchdowns. Jefferson appeared on the cover of the August 20, 1979 issue of Sports Illustrated
along with the heading "The Touchdown Man."http://media.cnnsi.com/si_online/covers/issues/1979/0820.html He was a consensus All-Pro
in each of the next two seasons and led the NFL in receiving yards (1,340) and receiving touchdowns (13) in 1980. Particularly of note, in a September 14, 1980 Overtime game against the Oakland Raiders, played in San Diego, Jefferson out-leaped Lester Hayes for a throw from Dan Fouts. Jefferson landed at about the Oakland 3 yard line. Hayes stood over Jefferson, stunned that Jefferson had taken the ball away. Jefferson had the presence of mind to roll on the ground into the End Zone, sealing a 30-24 San Diego Chargers' Overtime victory. It was ruled a touchdown because Hayes never touched Jefferson while he was in possession of the football. He became the first receiver in league history to gain 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons. While in San Diego, Jefferson also became known as the "Space-Age Receiver" due to the futuristic-looking goggles he wore.
in 1981. With the Packers, Jefferson starred opposite future Pro Football Hall of Fame
wideout James Lofton
. Jefferson, Lofton, and tight end Paul Coffman
teamed up with quarterback Lynn Dickey
to give the Packers one of the most explosive passing attacks in the NFL at the time; however, a defense which hovered near the bottom of the league relegated Green Bay to three 8-8 finishes and a second-round playoff appearance during the strike-shortened 1982 season
. Jefferson completed his career with the Cleveland Browns
in 1985. Jefferson would appear in four Pro Bowl
s during his career. He, along with Charlie Joiner
, Kellen Winslow
and Wes Chandler
(who replaced him on the Chargers) represented one of the most potent receiving corps of the early 1980s, known as Air Coryell. Jefferson was known for making spectacular catches with his body control and great hands.
in History
. He was inducted into the Arizona State Hall of Fame in 1979 and the College Football Hall of Fame
in 2002.
He has remained active in the football community; after retiring, Jefferson became an assistant coach at the University of Kansas
and was the director of player development for the Washington Redskins
until the end of the 2008-2009 season.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
wide receiver in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL). He was selected out of Arizona State University
Arizona State Sun Devils football
The Arizona State Sun Devils' football program represents Arizona State University in college football, and competes in NCAA Division I FBS as a member of the Pacific-12 Conference....
in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft
1978 NFL Draft
The 1978 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 2–3, 1978...
by the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. He played three seasons in San Diego, where he became the first NFL player to gain 1,000 receiving yards in his first three seasons. He was traded to the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
after a contract dispute with the Chargers, and later finished his playing career with the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
College
Jefferson played at Arizona State UniversityArizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
from 1974 to 1977. Jefferson's breakout year occurred in his sophomore season (1975) when he led the Sun Devils with 52 receptions and 921 yards receiving on the way to a perfect 12-0 season and an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
, where he was also named Most Valuable Player
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
. ASU finished second in the national polls, its highest ranking in history.
A consensus All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n selection in 1977 and two-time All-Western Athletic Conference
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
pick, Jefferson concluded his career with an NCAA record 42 consecutive games with a reception. He remains the ASU leader in career receptions with 188 and career receiving yardage with 2,993. Recognized as Arizona Amateur Athlete of the Year in 1977, he was twice selected as the Sun Devils Most Valuable Player and led the team in receiving all four years. The 1977 campaign was the Sun Devils' last in the WAC; in 1978, ASU and their in-state archrival, the Arizona Wildcats
Arizona Wildcats
-Athletic program:The University of Arizona participates in the NCAA's Division I-A in the Pacific-12 Conference Arizona participates in the conference's South Division, along with Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, and Utah...
, joined the Pacific 10 Conference.
San Diego Chargers
After his senior year at Arizona State, Jefferson was drafted fourteenth overall in the 1978 NFL Draft1978 NFL Draft
The 1978 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 2–3, 1978...
by the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Jefferson made an immediate impact in the NFL, finishing his rookie season with 56 receptions for 1,001 yards and a league-leading 13 receiving touchdowns. Jefferson appeared on the cover of the August 20, 1979 issue of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
along with the heading "The Touchdown Man."http://media.cnnsi.com/si_online/covers/issues/1979/0820.html He was a consensus All-Pro
All-Pro
All-Pro is a term mostly used in the NFL for the best players of each position during that season. It began as polls of sportswriters in the early 1920s...
in each of the next two seasons and led the NFL in receiving yards (1,340) and receiving touchdowns (13) in 1980. Particularly of note, in a September 14, 1980 Overtime game against the Oakland Raiders, played in San Diego, Jefferson out-leaped Lester Hayes for a throw from Dan Fouts. Jefferson landed at about the Oakland 3 yard line. Hayes stood over Jefferson, stunned that Jefferson had taken the ball away. Jefferson had the presence of mind to roll on the ground into the End Zone, sealing a 30-24 San Diego Chargers' Overtime victory. It was ruled a touchdown because Hayes never touched Jefferson while he was in possession of the football. He became the first receiver in league history to gain 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons. While in San Diego, Jefferson also became known as the "Space-Age Receiver" due to the futuristic-looking goggles he wore.
Green Bay Packers
Due to a contract dispute with the Chargers, Jefferson was traded to the Green Bay PackersGreen Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
in 1981. With the Packers, Jefferson starred opposite future Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
wideout James Lofton
James Lofton
James David Lofton is a former American football player and coach. He is a former American football coach for the San Diego Chargers but is best known for his years in the National Football League as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers , Los Angeles Raiders , the Buffalo Bills...
. Jefferson, Lofton, and tight end Paul Coffman
Paul Coffman
Paul Randolph Coffman is a former professional American football player who played tight end for ten seasons for the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs in the National Football League.-Personal:...
teamed up with quarterback Lynn Dickey
Lynn Dickey
Clifford Lynn Dickey is a retired National Football League quarterback, who played for the Houston Oilers and the Green Bay Packers in the 1970s and 1980s.-High school:...
to give the Packers one of the most explosive passing attacks in the NFL at the time; however, a defense which hovered near the bottom of the league relegated Green Bay to three 8-8 finishes and a second-round playoff appearance during the strike-shortened 1982 season
1982 NFL season
The 1982 NFL season was the 63rd regular season of the National Football League. A 57-day long players' strike reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule per team to an abbreviated nine game schedule...
. Jefferson completed his career with the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
in 1985. Jefferson would appear in four Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
s during his career. He, along with Charlie Joiner
Charlie Joiner
Charles B. Joiner Jr. is a former American football player who starred in professional football for eighteen seasons, virtually exclusively at the position of wide receiver. He retired with the most career receptions, receiving yards, and games played of any wide receiver in NFL history. He was...
, Kellen Winslow
Kellen Winslow
Kellen Boswell Winslow is a former American football tight end with the Missouri Tigers and the San Diego Chargers. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest tight ends in the history of the game. He is currently the athletic director at Central State University.Winslow did not play high...
and Wes Chandler
Wes Chandler
Wesley Sandy "Wes" Chandler is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League for eleven seasons in the 1970s and 1980s...
(who replaced him on the Chargers) represented one of the most potent receiving corps of the early 1980s, known as Air Coryell. Jefferson was known for making spectacular catches with his body control and great hands.
Later years
After his retirement, Jefferson graduated from Arizona State in 1989 with a B.A.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
. He was inducted into the Arizona State Hall of Fame in 1979 and the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
in 2002.
He has remained active in the football community; after retiring, Jefferson became an assistant coach at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
and was the director of player development for the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
until the end of the 2008-2009 season.
Statistics
Career Arizona State Statistics- 1974: 30 receptions, 423 yards, 1 TD.
- 1975: 52 receptions, 921 yards, 6 TDs
- 1976: 48 receptions, 681 yards, 5 TDs
- 1977: 58 receptions, 968 yards, 8 TDs
- Totals: 188 receptions, 2,993 yards, 20 TDs