With a group of reporters surrounding him a 17-year old CeCe Jefferson answers questions outside of the Bill Heavener Complex. It’s one of the worst kept secrets that Jefferson, a blue chip recruit from just down the road in Baker County, will pick Florida but Jefferson insists he’s waiting until National Signing Day to make his choice.
The interview concludes and Jefferson, all 275 pounds of him jumps up on to wall to sit down and keep talking. If that doesn’t sound weird to you then you don’t know how much a blue chip recruit like Jefferson is hounded on a daily basis. There are coaches from dozens of schools and dozens of reporters that cover those schools calling and texting and asking for time and answers daily. When a recruit gets interviewed in person they’re normally happy to get it over with and get out of there. Jefferson is waiting for his ride and he’s still talking. He’s asking us what we think of the football team coming up that season, what we think of the coaches. Wait, if Jefferson turning the interview around?
Jefferson’s career with Florida began with a bang. Will Muschamp recruited him but Muschamp was fired before National Signing Day. That meant Jefferson had just a few months to familiarize himself with a new coaching staff. That had Gator fans sweating. Fears and concerns were taken care of when Jefferson announced on ESPN that he would sign with Florida but when McElwain took the podium that afternoon Jefferson’s National Letter of Intent hadn’t been sent to Florida and the wait began. CeCe’s father, Leo, wouldn’t sign the LOI initially. The wait lasted less than a week and Leo, after speaking with McElwain and Geoff Collins, signed off on the LOI and CeCe was officially a Gator. From the outside there was a lot of drama but Jefferson grew up a Gator, he would soon have “#UF19” (representing his graduation year) tattooed on his right hand by his thumb. He was never going anywhere else.
Today is the day that I officially become a Florida Gator,sorry for the wait #GatorNation! Sending my LOI in shorty 💯🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊
— CeCe (@cecejeferson7) February 9, 2015
Jefferson quickly made an impact on third downs. The talented pass rusher had 18 tackles 8.5 for a loss but one play stuck out to him.
“My freshman year when I got the interception against Ole Miss,” Jefferson recalled (it was actually scored as a fumble recovery in the official box score). “I scored but the refs said otherwise. I think I scored.”
Jefferson has had a lot of moments at Florida but none can match the birth of his son, Luke.
Luke Deon Jefferson was born on August 11, 2015. Jefferson remembers leaving fall camp and speeding to the hospital to be there for the moment that would change his life forever. Jefferson had a typical college experience and that didn’t always line up with his goals on the field.
“Looking back my freshman, sophomore, junior year I did some pretty wild things,” he said. “Coming to my senior year I kind of realized, having my son, I realized I can’t really do those things I used to do because it won’t only affect me it will affect him. That just made me keep my vision clear.”
Luke lives in Baker County with his mother, Jefferson’s girlfriend. Luke doesn’t miss a home football game and Jefferson makes the short hour drive home as much as possible. Having his son has changed his perspective.
Some thought that his son would have led Jefferson to leave school early and go to the NFL to get paid. Even a mid-round pick makes a nice salary in the NFL and that would secure Luke’s life as well as CeCe’s. Instead there were two moments that really made the decision for Jefferson.
First, sitting on the sideline getting blown out by Georgia. Jefferson sat next to Martez Ivey, the other blue chip in Florida’s 2014 recruiting class, and the two knew they couldn’t go out like that. The following week Florida was blown out by Missouri and Jefferson didn’t play well.
“That was the worst game I ever played in my life. In my life,” Jefferson said.
So he came back, with a new coaching staff and he bought in. for the staff he’s a rental. Dan Mullen and his coaching staff are trying to build a new culture in Gainesville but they only get Jefferson for a year. It would have been easy for Jefferson to just go through the motions, do his time and then bolt for the NFL after the season. He didn’t. He bought it and that was huge. Jefferson, affectionately dubbed “Uncle Carl” by his teammates is a leader in the locker room. If Jefferson didn’t buy in would his younger teammates have?
“It’s always a concern,” Mullen said of getting the older players to buy into a new system. “One of the first team meetings, (I said), ‘If everybody buys in, the sooner we win. If the seniors want to win, then buy in. As soon as everyone buys in, we have the opportunity to win. And you don’t unless that happens.’ So that was one of my first team meetings. And I think the guys understood it. And I think everybody has really bought into our program.”
Jefferson had no trepidations and looking back now, he wishes he could do it all over again.
“C’mon now. It speaks for itself,” Jefferson scoffed at my question if he would come back for four years with the new staff. “I would definitely go back and have those four years with Coach Savage in the weight room and just Coach Grantham as a coach. Yes I would definitely do it again if I had to.”
Flashback four years ago, flanked by his mother and his father all Gator chomping, Jefferson chastised his mother for crying. He told ESPN she should have waited until after the cameras stopped rolling. This weekend it’s CeCe’s turn. Maybe becoming a father has softened him. Maybe it’s the four years of memories he’s made at the University of Florida or realizing that he fulfilled his childhood dreams. One thing is for sure, tears will be flowing for the kid from Baker County when he runs out on to the field for the last time this Saturday.
“Overflow of tears,” Jefferson said. “I’m not even going to try and hold it back, man. I love this place, you know what I mean? I grew up an hour away from here and everything about me is being a Florida Gator. Growing up I was a Florida Gator fan and it was a no-brainer that I wanted to come to school here. And so just, will you have me some tissue if you’re on the side, if you’re going to be there anybody? Some Kleenex, because I’m going to get pretty messy. I might just leave my helmet and run down with my head down, but yeah, lots of tears Saturday.”