A season of surprises for Jeffries at Montana State
Ex-Glacier star returns a kickoff, gets first sack
The first action of Devin Jeffries’ college career came as quite a surprise to the former Glacier star.
Playing on the kickoff return for Montana State halfway across the country against Arkansas State, the 6-foot-1, 240-pound defensive lineman wasn’t expecting to actually return a kick.
Playing on the shield — the group of larger players that forms a wall to protect the small, fast guys that are meant to return kicks — he had just stepped on the field as a college athlete for the first time when Arkansas State sky kicked the opening kickoff, right to Jeffries.
“It was scary,” Jeffries said. “I thought I was going to drop it at first. I guess the sideline was screaming at me to fair catch it, but I just kinda had tunnel vision on the ball.”
He returned it seven yards, kicking off a memorable redshirt freshman season for the exercise science major.
The year started off on crutches when Jeffries broke his foot in warmups on the first day of spring ball, and was sidelined yet again after his redshirt season.
“It kinda hurt me a lot, set me back,” Jeffries said.
It stunted his opportunities with a team looking for depth on the defensive line and kept him off the field. Jeffries, who recorded 99 tackles, 12.5 sacks and was named state defensive player of the year his senior year at Glacier, had just spent an entire redshirt year on the sidelines unable to get on the field even for garbage minutes.
“It felt like it was never ending,” Jeffries said.
“It’s all this hard work, and you know your time is going to come. But, it’s all this hard work over a year to hopefully step on the field.
“But it’s totally worth it. It gets you up to speed.”
By summer, his foot felt healthy again and he was running drills with the team.
“I’ve felt healthy (since) and my foot hasn’t given me any more problems,” Jeffries said.
After making his grand debut in Arkansas, making an assisted tackle later in the game, Jeffries made his home debut against Black Hills State and made an impact again.
“It brought me back,” Jeffries said. “I didn’t get to step on the field for over a year. It brought a big smile to my face. I was just excited to be out there.”
In his first game at Bobcat Stadium, Jeffries made four solo tackles and recorded the first sack of his college career.
“I knew they were going to pass it,” Jeffries said of the sack.
“It was towards the end of the game. I just quick stepped it inside the tackle and the quarterback was standing right there. I pulled him down.
“The excitement in the moment, it was probably one of the happiest moments of my life.”
Since he’s played in all but two games, recording an assisted tackle against UC Davis. He said he’s looking forward to the rest of this season and hopefully the playoffs.
Even if it’s not as eventful.