Alton Jefferson is a redshirt senior defensive lineman from Louisville, Kentucky. 

Jefferson began playing football at five years old in little league and played offensive line. He also played baseball growing up and was a third baseman and outfielder.

Jefferson missed the 2024 season due to an injury and used his redshirt. In his career at Eastern, he has 37 total tackles with two sacks and three and a half tackles for loss. He also crossed into the Omega Psi Phi fraternity in the spring of 2023. 

In this Q&A, Jefferson shares his perspective being sidelined in 2024, goals for the rest of season and his biggest supporters.

Q: Who got you into football?

A: “I’d say who got me into football was really my pops.”

Q: What age did you start playing football?

A: “I was about 5 years old. I started with little league with the mighty mights back at home.”

Q: What position did you play?

A: “I played O-line, I just played center, played a little bit of D-line but I didn’t really used to get in, I was weak.”

Q: When did you start playing defensive line full time?

A: “I played fullback in middle school then the starting running back got hurt so I ended up going to running back then I went to high school, they switched me over to D-line my freshman year.”

Q: Who would you say your running back comparison was?

A: “I compare myself to Jerome Bettis and Eddie Lacy.”

Q: What was your experience like being sidelined last season?

A “I got hurt during preseason camp, the first day of pads, so it just made me look at the game differently, it made me realize football can get taken away just like that.” 

Q: What impact did that have on you?

A: “I was just taking it all in from a mental standpoint, understanding the game more, seeing what I can do better, seeing what I need to work on.”

Q: What is your major?

A: “My major is hospitality and tourism with a minor in entrepreneurship.”

Q: What do you plan to do with your major?

A: “I’m trying to go into event planning within country clubs, resorts, hotels, stuff like that. I got my own business entertainment right now, AJ entertainment.”

Q: Pancakes or waffles?

A: “Waffles.”

Q: What do you put on waffles?

A: “Butter syrup, that’s all I get.”

Q: Favorite post-game meal?

A: “It’s a real sleeper pick, the slices and sticks from Little Caesars, it comes with some cheese sticks and a little slice of pizza or I might go to Casa Del Mar. I get the Playa Plate, it’s shrimp, steak, chicken with some rice and queso on it,”

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: “Pasta, any type of pasta, the only type of pasta I don’t really rock with is lasagna.”

Q: What is your hobby outside of football?

A: “Honestly, just spending time with friends, family for real, I am on the game, but I wouldn’t say I am on the game like that.”

Q: Who are your biggest supporters?

A: “Definitely my family, my father’s been to every game since my freshman year, I’ll say my mom, all my siblings, I got four older sisters. Also, my brothers in my fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, support me as well too, even though they can’t be at the game, they are always checking up on me.”

Q: Who is the funniest on the team?

A: “I’ll probably say Ty[ler] Miller, Tylan Foster and Ja’Wuan Nixon.”

Q: Who on the team is getting the aux?

A: “I say Ruben [Popoca] and Pigg[Trevon Piggee].”

Q: What is your favorite movie?

A: “I say, ‘Roll Bounce,’ ‘Drumline,’ all ‘The Hangover’s, the ‘Friday’s for sure.”

Q: Who is your favorite musical artist?

A: “Rod Wave for sure.”

Q: Favorite song by Rod Wave?

A: “Either ‘Letter from Houston’ or ‘2019.’”

Q: Have you been to a Rod Wave concert?

A: “I have, he came to Louisville, like his first tour, he brought out Bryson Tiller and Jack Harlow because Jack Harlow from Louisville too.”

Q: Who is your football GOAT?

A: “My favorite team is the Steelers so growing up it was Troy Polamalu, he was just a dawg back there especially, on that defense when they were winning super bowls back then.”

Q: What is your favorite part about being in Omega Psi Phi?

A: “The friendship that it brings and the brotherhood that it brings, whether it’s on a football field, through my major, whether it’s outside doing community work. It’s the connections you build.”

Q: Favorite restaurant in Charleston?

A: “You can’t go wrong with Dirty’s.”

Q: Who are some of the players you model your game after?

A: “Definitely Aaron Donald or some more interior linemans like, Vita Vea, Dexter Lawrence, Jalen Carter, Javon Kinlaw and Malik Collins.”

Q: What are your goals for the rest of the season?

A: “My goal is definitely being an all-conference player, I’d say another goal, a team goal is winning the OVC championship, that’s the main goal. And just give it all I got, my last season and I’m not leaving anything on the table just because of last year, just joining everything, doing everything I can while I still can, not taking anything for granted.”

Cameron Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at cathomas8@eiu.edu.