Kentucky RB Ramon Jefferson made history against Alabama

Admittedly, there weren’t too many positives to take away from Kentucky football’s 49-21 crushing loss to No. 8 Alabama on Saturday. The Wildcats were smacked in the mouth early and failed to respond in front of the Big Blue Nation. But if we’re searching for something to be happy about, it would be Ramon Jefferson‘s explosive play in the fourth quarter.

Jefferson, a redshirt fifth-year running back who missed nearly all of the 2022 season with a torn ACL, burned off a 74-yard run against the Crimson Tide. The play happened with just under 10 minutes left in the game from Kentucky’s own 25-yard line. Jefferson took the handoff from quarterback Devin Leary, broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage, and then sprinted his way straight ahead before getting pulled down at the Alabama one-yard line. Ray Davis would punch in the touchdown two plays later.

According to UK statistician Corey Price, Jefferson’s 74-yard run was the longest ever by a Kentucky player against Alabama. The two teams have gone head-to-head 41 times since 1917. The big play also pushed Jefferson over 3,000 rushing yards for his career. Between stints at Sam Houston State, Maine, and Kentucky, the Bronx, NY native now boasts 3,069 career yards on the ground.

Jefferson transferred to Kentucky ahead of the 2022 season, but an untimely knee injury in the opener against Miami (OH) knocked him out for the entire year. Prior to his arrival in Lexington, Jefferson started his college career at Maine with Kentucky’s current offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who was the OC at the time for the Black Bears. Jefferson redshirted as a freshman in 2017 before totaling 1,037 rushing yards with eight touchdowns in 2018. He helped lead Maine to the FCS Playoffs and was named the Thurlow Cooper Offensive Rookie of the Year.

From there, Jefferson transferred to Garden City Community College where he ran for nearly 1,000 more yards and 13 additional touchdowns in just 11 games. He would back to the NCAA level, this time to Sam Houston State for his redshirt junior season in 2020, but that year would ultimately get postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jefferson returned as a redshirt senior in 2021 and continued to rack up numbers. Across 22 games in two seasons with Sam Houston State, he recorded 1,907 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.

Jefferson would finally make the leap to the Power 5 following his impressive production at the FCS level. He wound up choosing Kentucky over the likes of West Virginia, Tennessee, and Eastern Michigan. But as mentioned, his time as Wildcat was quickly cut short. He recorded just two carries before suffering the ACL injury and sitting out the rest of the season. Luckily, a medical hardship waiver allowed him to play a seventh season of college football in 2023.

So far, Jefferson has seen limited snaps as Kentucky’s fourth-string tailback. He’s recorded just 14 carries this season for 115 yards. Five carries against Mississippi State last week were a season-high and his first touches since Kentucky beat Florida back in September.