'He's almost like a folk hero' -- Breaking down Justin Jefferson tape with his HS position coach

Destrehan High School coach Greg Boyne loves watching his former pupil thrive in the NFL

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It isn’t hyperbole to say that over the first five weeks of his NFL career, Justin Jefferson has already become a force.

The Minnesota Vikings’ first-year receiver from LSU not only leads all rookies with 371 yards, he’s 11th overall in the league in yardage, fifth in yards per reception, 11th in yards after catch and is graded by Pro Football Focus as the fifth best receiver in the NFL so far this year.

This was exactly the start the Vikings hoped for when they selected him in the first round.

But when receivers coach at Destrehan High School in Louisiana, Greg Boyne, first started working with Jefferson, he would have never dreamed that he’d be watching him emerge as an NFL star someday.

“When Justin first got to us…I don’t think he understood on a personal level what it would take even for him to get on the field here,” Boyne said.

Destrehan is serious about football. Boyne has coached NFL receivers before, including former Eagle and Texan Demaris Johnson. He’s sent recent receivers to Division I schools like Notre Dame, Memphis and Cincinnati. Much like Jefferson’s path at LSU and in the NFL, he had to prove it at Destrehan before getting a chance to become a playmaker there.

“Just to get reps he had to compete his butt off,” Boyne said. “From Day 1 when we got our hands on him at varsity he had to work, nothing was given. And when he got to LSU, I think it was the same situation. They had four- and five-star guys in front of him and then when he got to the league he found out that just because you’re Justin Jefferson and you’re a first-round pick you still are going to have to earn your reps. He’s always accepted that. It doesn’t phase him, which is impressive.”

Jefferson didn’t see playing time at LSU as a freshman and it wasn’t until his junior year that he was a featured receiver. Naturally, Boyne kept close watch on his progress.

“We were able to go watch LSU practices and not until maybe the second or third time we were there and Jerry Sullivan (LSU offensive assistant in 2018) came up to us and said, ‘this kid has NFL talent once he figures out the mental part,’” Boyne said. “He figured that part out and the physical part developed.”

When Jefferson arrived as the Vikings’ first-round pick, the truncated offseason put him behind and Bisi Johnson won the No. 2 receiver spot out of camp. Until, of course, Jefferson was given his shot in Week 3 when he put up 175 yards against the Tennessee Titans.

Greg Boyne has coached football for 22 years. He’s enjoyed watching Justin Jefferson’s path to NFL success.

In only a few weeks, Jefferson has changed the face of the Vikings’ offense and given them back the 1-2 punch they lost when Stefon Diggs was traded to Buffalo this offseason.

In Minnesota he’s the future. In Louisiana, he might be as popular as Lil Wayne.

“Statewide he’s almost like a folk hero,” said Boyne, who never expected to be approached by an opposing player of his daughter’s travel volleyball team with a request to share her Snapchat with Jefferson. (He did get Jefferson to text them a good luck message).

So when Purple Insider reached out to Boyne about breaking down some clips of Jefferson’s performance with the Vikings, he responded almost immediately. This week he gave his view on four of Jefferson’s most impressive plays…

Going vertical against Tennessee

Of Jefferson’s seven receptions against the Titans in Week 3, arguably the most impressive was a 31-yard deep pass down the sideline from quarterback Kirk Cousins. The reception set up a touchdown pass on the next play to Adam Thielen that put the Vikings up 14-6.

Purple Insider: The first thing that stands out is the release. It looks like Jefferson has a step on Malcolm Butler right from the jump.

Boyne: (Boyne explained that he showed several of the clips to a freshman receiver at Destrehan that he believes has great potential).

The thing I was showing the freshman is: he’s so quick with it, it’s real subtle. A lot of young receivers and even guys in the NFL waste a lot of time with their releases. He did it as he was going vertical. What’s funny is that I can show you 15 clips of the same exact play, the same exact throw — obviously not the same exact precision — but when we needed something we could get it up to Justin. He would have a release that would create separation. He probably caught 15 of those same exact fade or vertical… with the freeze move, outside release, get back on top, catch it at the highest point.

Purple Insider: Getting his body around and pulling that ball in over the corner was really something

Boyne: His hands are ridiculously strong. He has big hands and strong hands and every clip that you sent you can see how he just grabs the ball out of the air and attacks the ball in the air like every receiver coach in the country teaches. He does it. He could be a textbook on how to catch the football. Of course, he did a little talking after the catch.

(Here’s another angle of the catch)

Purple Insider: At LSU he wasn’t really considered a deep receiver but that 4.43 40-yard dash certainly showed up here

Boyne: Justin’s a heck of an athlete. He grew up playing basketball. When he really lit it up here, he had a great track season. He didn’t run track his first season but his second and third season he ran track and that really polished his running technique. He kind of was a gangly, skinny, not awkward but not the most athletic kid but once he ran track — I think he ran the 200 and 400 — you could see the improvement.

When he came back that spring after track season. He was still doing all his football work but that track season I think he realized he had speed inside of himself and it gave him confidence on the field. That junior football season, he tore it up. When we needed it we went to him and that was with a lot of good guys around him.

The ‘C’ route

The Houston Texans probably had a feeling that Jefferson would be a main target after his breakout game against the Titans but that didn’t seem to matter. Vikings offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak pulled out numerous max protection play-action concepts to get Jefferson open down the field. On our next play, Jefferson picks up 29 of his 103 yards against the Texans.

Purple Insider: When I asked rookies about the hardest routes to run, they all said that double-moves down the field were the toughest. This route has a lot going on.

Boyne: We call it a ‘C route’ here, a lot of colleges call it a ‘V cut.’ It’s an inside stem, heavy protection and you get back vertical. He subtly gets back vertical and the route can be adjusted based on where the safety is. So if the safety is over the top on him and he flattens it out.

Perfect throw. It’s a hell of a throw. He catches the ball with his hands away from his body where the defender can’t get to it. Great release again. He works real hard inside so he gets the corner on his hip, sticks his foot in the ground and then gets back out to create the separation. The play-action held the safety for him but he was still over the top and flattened it out. Great throw and catch.

Here’s the other angle:

Purple Insider: I bet as a coach you can appreciate how he fought through contact there

Boyne: He’s a very physical kid. Strong hands. I would compare it to watching his high school film. Along the way somewhere he learned to be very physical at the top of his routes. In high school we know that if we can get separation early we can get the ball to you. At [the NFL] level, you need the separation early and at the top when the corner has made up the difference because of the speed. That’s where you can see he’s learned a lot, he’s learned to use his body and his strength.

For a kid that looks skinny, he’s strong. He’s really strong. You watch some of his videos, he’s throwing around a lot of weight for a kid that’s in his first year in the NFL. In three or four years he’s going to be a grown man.

Purple Insider: Did he learn his post-catch celebrations from you guys or did that happen after he left high school?

Boyne: He didn’t learn that here (laughing). That’s an LSU thing or a Vikings thing. Our head coach — he retired after last season — if somebody did that on the field, he would go crazy. If it was Justin or not, he’d take them out. We give them a little freedom to celebrate but not the pointing and spinning of the ball. That would have been frowned upon here.

Jefferson’s first Moss’ing

With DeShaun Watson mounting a comeback, the Vikings knew they had to keep pushing the ball downfield to beat the Texans. On a key third down, Cousins was quickly pressured out of the shotgun and fired a bullet to his well-covered rookie receiver for a 25-yard gain — his third 20-plus yard reception of the contest.

Purple Insider: The All-22 tape gives us such a great view of how Jefferson got off the line of scrimmage and the degree of difficulty of the reception. I’m not sure what they call it in Louisiana but in Minnesota we would call that “Moss’ing” a guy

Boyne: To see an NFL team trust him to work the slot and outside is pretty impressive. Pete Carmichael, who is the OC for the Saints, his kids came to school here so I’ve been fortunate enough to watch some practices and I’ve sat in coach Carmichael’s office and we have a pretty decent sized playbook here but theirs looks like an old phone book. I know to play slot and outside, the volume mentality has to be exhausting.

Purple Insider: I know we talked about releases before but he really exploded out of this one

Boyne: It’s almost like an Allen Iverson crossover. Inside, outside, back inside. We call it a freeze release here. You want to freeze the defender. Freeze him inside to go outside or freeze him outside to go inside. It takes work.

His dad played college basketball so he’s been seeing a crossover move since he was three years old. When you watch the All-22 you can almost picture the basketball in his hand going right to left and then crossing back across the defender’s face. And again the safety hits him right as he catches it but the strengths of the hands he holds on.

Purple Insider: Do your kids get the Allen Iverson references?

Boyne: I know Justin does but some of the younger kids might not (laughing). Now I think we have to start using Kyrie Irving

Fourth down trust factor

On the opening drive against Seattle, the Vikings decided to go for a fourth-and-2. Jefferson ran a quick route out of the slot and Cousins completed the pass for a first down. The Vikings finished the drive with a touchdown to open the game.

Purple Insider: This one is doesn’t look very complicated but it took some quick feet there to pull the defender toward the out route and create just enough space

Boyne: This is one that might be new to him. I don’t remember him running a little pivot like this at LSU or it could be something that they have him reading on the run. If the defender is outside, stick your foot in the ground and get back out. Throw is inside away from the defender, it’s fourth down so they’re not asking him to break anything, just make sure he catches it.

The thing that’s impressive is that he’s so subtle with it. It doesn’t take a lot of effort watching him to run that route. It’s pretty easy for him to stick his foot in the ground and work back inside.

Purple Insider: Again we have Jefferson and Cousins on the same page with the timing after only a few weeks. We didn’t exactly expect that

Boyne: Cousins, I love watching him even though he beat the Saints in the playoffs. Still fun to watch. Watching these clips, the accuracy is unbelievable. To a spot, it’s almost like a golfer. People take it for granted but when you see it live, it’s like, holy smokes.

Purple Insider: So what do you think, Greg, is he going to be alright in Minnesota?

Boyne: [At Destrehan] they take pride in not just being good players but good people. That’s Justin. I think y’all are going to see it, you guys that have interaction with him, he’s a happy-go-lucky, violent on the field but off it he’s always smiling, always laughing, what you see is what you get, no BS, just a good family, good person.

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