Jefferson seems the best realistic option to me. He obviously fits Johnny's offense and has worked well with him in the past. He's a super senior, and there's no substitute for experience at this level. He's also pretty durable; yes, he played hurt this year and it showed, but he took a lot of hits and still played. I think he could come in here and be the guy to get us back to winning right away, giving Hoover and Henjy a year to develop toward competing against each other for the job in 2025.
He is the best QB with the most compatible skill sets that TCU has a shot at.
But he has 1 year left, and will likely demand to be the starter on day 1.
I believe it is Briles’ decision, as he has first hand experience with both Hoover and Jefferson. Briles needs to decide right now if he believes Hoover has the ceiling to get us to 8 wins next year, and I believe that’s a yes.
If Briles believes Hoover can get us to 8 wins; then KJ is not worth it.
His demands to start would be an issue, and if Hoover left, we’d could be worse off than we are now by creating QB depth issues for ‘25.
TCU to the CFP would be highly doubtful next year, so I don‘t see the value in signing KJ for $3-$500k and naming him our starter.
I believe we need a Soph/Junior to challenge or be a solid backup to Hoover.
At this point we pay Briles to make these big money decisions, I’m on board for whatever his evaluation turns out to be.