Jeffcoat, a junior kicker on the LaGrange College football team, began his collegiate career at Oklahoma State where he was a preferred walk-on.
“I was able to dress out, and I’d go on the field in front of 70,000 and warm up, and that was cool, a good experience for me,” Jeffcoat said.
After one season in Stillwater, though, Jeffcoat was ready for a change.
When he was a senior at Spalding County High School in Griffin, one of the schools that recruited him was LaGrange College.
When Jeffcoat decided to look for a new school, he called LaGrange College head coach Todd Mooney and asked him if he was still interested.
Mooney offered an emphatic yes, and Jeffcoat became a Panther.
Now a junior, Jeffcoat is in his second season at LaGrange College, and he hasn’t looked back.
“LaGrange is where I belong,” he said.
Last season, Jeffcoat handled the kickoff duties, but Drake Nahrwold was the place kicker.
This season, Jeffcoat has become the place kicker, and he’s enjoying a sensational junior season.
Jeffcoat has made six-of-eight attempts, and he’s a perfect three-for-three beyond 40 yards.
Earlier in the season, Jeffcoat set a school record with a 44-yard field goal, and he has since broken his own record twice.
Most recently, Jeffcoat made a 47-yard field goal in last week’s win over Maryville.
“He’s kicking with confidence, and I have confidence in him,” Mooney said. “He’s doing a heck of a job.”
Jeffcoat said a key to his success is the belief he has that, whenever called upon, he can put the ball through the uprights.
“If my teammates believe in me, if coach Mooney believes in me, I believe I can do it,” Jeffcoat said. “That’s big, because kicking is 90 percent mental.”
Jeffcoat has made all 14 of his extra-point attempts, and of his two field-goal misses, one attempt was from beyond 50 yards.
“You have to approach every kick as if you’re going to make it,” Jeffcoat said. “If you go out on the field thinking I hope I don’t miss it, you’re going to miss it.”
Jeffcoat, who was also a soccer standout in high school, made the transformation to full-time kicker when he was a freshman at Spalding High.
“I was playing wide receiver and got hit one too many times, and I thought, I’m just going to kick,” Jeffcoat says with a grin. “That was basically it. From there on, I didn’t look back.”
That’s not to say Jeffcoat shies away from a little contact.
At LaGrange College, the kickers participate in some of the full-contact drills since they may have to make a tackle on a punt or kickoff.
“That’s one of the things I’ve enjoyed so much,” Jeffcoat said. “The kickers, we bust out butts in the offseason with the team. We even hit during the spring, and we hit in camp. Because kickers will have to make tackles.”
Jeffcoat isn’t on the team to make tackles, though.
His job is to make kicks, and Jeffcoat said that’s a part of the game the team takes seriously.
“We have pride in our kicking unit,” Jeffcoat said. “If we have to make field goals, we’re pretty confident.”
LaGrange College hosts Methodist on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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