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BOCA RATON – Jefftey Joseph is adept at recognizing opportunities and acting quickly to fill voids.
It started at Deerfield Beach High School when, with the Bucks lacking a quarterback, he volunteered for the job.
Most recently he boosted a depleted wide receiver unit by catching two touchdowns during FAU’s first spring scrimmage.
A walk on, Jospeh said he wanted to “Let them know I’m not here to settle. I’m here to help the team as much as I can.”
Joseph is among a group of unheralded receivers trying to impress this spring and gain playing time for the fall.
He transferred to FAU following a stint at Division II Virginia Union, the school that offered him a scholarship once he moved back to wide receiver for his senior year at Deerfield. Joseph joined the Owls following a tryout, spending last fall working on the scout team.
“They’ve given me an opportunity to play,” Joseph said. “Since then I haven’t looked back.”
Joseph spent much of the fall discussing route running with Jovon Durante, last year’s leading receiver, and generally absorbing his football knowledge.
Shortly after the season ended Durante declared early for the NFL Draft. By the time spring practices began FAU also lost Auburn transfer Kyle Davis to the CFL, along with DeAndre McNeal and Desean Holmes to the transfer portal.
“Having veterans like that leave the team, it kind of hurts but it does open the door for young guys,” Joseph said.
At 6-foot-2, 206 pounds and possessing good length, Joseph looks the part of a Division I wide receiver, despite having only caught six passes in two years at Virginia Union.
Jefftey isn’t the fastest receiver in the unit, but he plays in a physical manner that doesn’t suggest a history at quarterback. That time at QB, however, is helping him now.
“It’s easy to kind of identify certain types of coverages based on the IQ that I’ve gained from playing quarterback,” Jeffrey said.
FAU has a history with former quarterbacks switching to wide receiver, and it isn’t necessarily a good one. John Franklin began his college career as a quarterback at Florida St. and later Auburn before transferring to FAU as a wide out. Franklin’s most memorable moment as an Owl came when he started his touchdown celebration early against North Texas in the 2017 C-USA championship game, dropping the ball and fumbling it out of bounds.
A few years earlier, under the Carl Pelini regime, FAU’s decision to convert Melvin German from quarterback to wide receiver didn’t make any impact.
Joseph, however, is a bit of a different case. Until Joseph changed it this week, his Twitter handle still read @BucksQB1, but the redshirt junior, has always considered himself to be a receiver.
Working mostly with the third team, he caught a 17 yard touchdown from Trent Wessell in the first half of Saturday’s scrimmage, then turned a deflected Nick Tronti pass into a 75 yard score – delighting the 20 or so fans from his Kendall Green neighborhood in Pompano attending the scrimmage.
“I thought I’d be held to a different standard than the guys on scholarship but I was welcomed in with welcome arms,” Joseph said. “I felt like one of the guys immediately. There wasn’t any difference between the walk-ons and the guys on scholarship. It was one family and one team.”
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