The staff of the Western Illinois football program continues to take shape this week as coach Joe Davis announced the addition of a new coach on Thursday. Vincent Jefferies Jr. joins the staff as the new Leatherneck wide receiver coach.
Jefferies Jr. joins Western Illinois after serving as a graduate assistant at Illinois for the past two seasons.
Prior to his time at Illinois, Jefferies spent the 2021 season at North Carolina State, serving as an offensive assistant. Jefferies helped Illinois to 13 wins over the past 2 seasons including an appearance in the 2022 ReliaQuest Bowl.
In 2023, Illinois receivers caught 216 passes for 3175 yards and 23 touchdowns. Isaiah Williams led the way with 82 catches for 1055 yards and five touchdowns. Williams’ yards had him ranked 24th in receiving yards nationally. As a team, Illinois had the 35th ranked passing offense in FBS football.
In 2022, the Illini were ranked in the AP Top 25 for five straight weeks, reaching as high as No. 14, and were ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings for the first time in school history. Illinois’ passing offense was the most improved in the nation, as the Illini ranked third in the nation in completion percentage (69.6%), a rise of 122 spots in the national rankings, and All-Big Ten wide receiver Isaiah Williams ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten in receptions per game (2nd, 6.3), receiving yards (7th, 715), receiving touchdowns (10th, 5), and receiving yards per game (10th, 55).
Jefferies started his coaching career at the high school level at Garner Magnet in his hometown of Garner, North Carolina. At Garner, Jefferies was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
Jefferies finished his playing career at Florida A&M in 2016-17. He was a quarterback and graduated from Florida A&M with a degree in psychology. After graduation, Jefferies participated in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Spirit of America Bowl where he scored the game winning touchdown.
He also played one season at Santa Rosa Junior College, where he threw for 1,920 yards and 12 touchdowns in 10 games.
Jefferies graduated from Florida A&M’s College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities with an undergraduate degree in psychology and a cumulative GPA of 3.5. He was a semifinalist for the 2017 William V. Campbell Trophy, the most prestigious academic award in college football.
***Story courtesy of Western Illinois University and goleathernecks.com***
