KJ Jefferson vs Seth Morgan's statistical comparison ahead of college football Week 1 matchup

The UCF Knights open their season against the New Hampshire Wildcats on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. The Knights are 38-point favorites.

The Big 12 program will likely start KJ Jefferson as its quarterback for the game. On the other hand, New Hampshire will start new quarterback Seth Morgan, as Max Brosmer has transferred to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

KJ Jefferson vs. Seth Morgan's stats comparison

Completion percentage

KJ Jefferson will play his first with the UCF Knights in 2024. In the last five seasons, he has been with the Arkansas Razorbacks. During this time, he completed 65.1% (626-of-962) of his passes.

Seth Morgan spent three seasons at VMI Keydets, and this season is his first with New Hampshire. At VMI, he completed 61.5% (452-of-735) of his passes.

Passing yards

Jefferson has thrown for 7,911 yards and averaged 8.2 yards per attempt. Morgan has thrown for 4,815 yards and averaged 6.6 yards per attempt.

Passing touchdowns and interception

Jefferson has thrown for 67 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in five seasons of College Football. Morgan has thrown for 28 touchdowns and had 24 interceptions.

Rushing yards and touchdowns

Jefferson has rushed 1,876 yards from 523 attempts. He has scored 21 touchdowns. Morgan has rushed for 384 yards from 160 attempts and has nine touchdowns.

What does the UCF coach expect to see?

UCF coach Gus Malzahn talked about his hopes for what his team can do in the game.

"There's nothing like being out there. They put the coaches on the sideline, and they let the players play," Malzahn said (h/t TCPalm). "That's what I am most excited about, to see how they are going to respond — to success, adversity, how close they're going to be, who the leaders that are going to step up (are).

"I want us to play good team football. I want us to be sound on offense, without all of the penalty crap. I want us to be sound of defense. I want to see some hits where the crowd goes, 'Woo!'"

The victory is guaranteed for the Knights, so this game should be used as a chance to see how the nearly 40 new players will fare.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Ribin Peter