Malik Jefferson

BIOGRAPHY

Malik Jefferson was born in Mesquite, Texas on November 15, 1996. Jefferson attended Poteet High School where he played football and baseball and competed in track and field. Jefferson was named Sophomore of the Year in District 10–4A and earned first-team All-Area honors by the Dallas Morning News. By his senior year, Jefferson was named first-team All-American by Parade and USA Today, and also won the High School Butkus Award for the nation's top linebacker. After season, he participated in the 2015 Under Armour All-America Game. Regarded as a five-star recruit by both Rivals.com and Scout.com, either recruiting service also ranked him the No. 1 outside linebacker prospect of his class. With offers from every major program in the country, Jefferson narrowed his selection down to Baylor, Louisiana State, Texas, Texas A&M, and UCLA. On December 19, 2014, he committed to play football at University of Texas at Austin. Jefferson played as a true freshman at Texas, and was named a Freshman All-American by Sporting News, and USA Today. Jefferson was also awarded as The Big 12 Conference Freshman Defensive Player of the Year for the 2015 season. On December 31, 2017, Jefferson declared his intentions to enter the 2018 NFL Draft.

On December 31, 2017, Jefferson released a statement through The Player's Tribune announcing his decision to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter the 2018 NFL Draft. Jefferson ignored recommendations from the College Advisory Board to return to college and chose to enter the draft instead. The Cincinnati Bengals selected Jefferson in the third round (78th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. Jefferson was the 11th linebacker drafted in 2018.