There are still basketballs bouncing in the backyard of the Jefferson home in St. Rose, La., the soundtrack of a shared love between John and Elaine Jefferson and the echoes of pitched battles that forged their three sons in the Louisiana heat.
The teams for 2-on-2 were almost always the same: the Jeffersons' oldest two sons, Jordan and Rickey, against John and his youngest son Justin.
John had played a few pickup games in New York's Rucker Park during his time as a Division II basketball player, and spared his sons neither the dunks he could throw down nor the trash talk he would dispense after he did it.
The four Jefferson men played for hours in the backyard, shirtless in the heat. Cuts and bruises were the toll for drives to the rim, and the day each boy could finally beat his father came after years of struggle.
"It was pure joy, to be honest," Rickey Jefferson said. "We were in our own world."
The competitive centrifuge sent two football players from St. Rose to Baton Rouge. Jordan played quarterback for LSU in a BCS title game and Rickey started at cornerback for the Tigers.
Justin arrived at Destrehan High School measuring just 5-foot-7 and 125 pounds, but possessing the know-how that could only come from years of tagging along in Death Valley and running routes with his brothers. If his growth spurt arrived in time, it seemed fated he would take off.
"Even when he was in seventh and eighth grade, his dad would tell us, 'He's going to be the one,' " Destrehan High School offensive coordinator Greg Boyne said.
Justin grew 6 inches before his junior year, and the rise his father predicted hasn't stopped. He dominated as a receiver at Destrehan, claiming a scholarship LSU coach Ed Orgeron had left open for him and teaming with Ja'Marr Chase to form the nation's most prolific receiving duo in 2019.
Jefferson became the first of his brothers to win a national title Jan. 13, and declared for the NFL draft two days later, on the eve of his 21st birthday. The Vikings made him the 22nd overall pick in April.
His coaches, from Boyne at Destrehan to venerated LSU receivers coach Jerry Sullivan and the Vikings' offensive staff this summer, have remarked how none of it ever seems too big for Jefferson. If that proves to be the case in the NFL, it'll only be the latest testament to the environment that raised him.
"In that house, it was crazy: different competitions, playing basketball, playing football, being competitive, and being tough," he said. "Honestly, they just taught me a lot. They're the reason I am who I am today."
'Not wanting to lose at all'
The fact Jefferson starred for one of the nation's most successful — and most closely-watched — college programs means his origin story has by now acquired something approaching mythic status through its numerous retellings.
One of its staples, the idea that he was lightly-recruited coming out of high school, is just not true, Boyne said.
Recruiters didn't spend much time pursuing Jefferson, he said, because it was understood that as long as his grades were good enough, there was no question he'd follow his brothers to LSU.
He'd attended games at Tiger Stadium from the time he was 9, and Jordan started playing there as a true freshman, riding the highs of big wins and hearing the biting criticism of the quarterback that got so bad, Boyne vowed he would never go back after sitting in the stands for one game.
When the top-ranked Tigers beat No. 2 Alabama at Legion Field in 2011, Justin was in the visitor's locker room after the game to celebrate with his older brother after what he still calls the best game he ever saw.
"Going into the locker rooms afterward, and just seeing the excitement, the joy, even the sad [times], you can really tell who wants to win — who would just give it their all," Justin said. "That's one thing I have [picked up]: just not wanting to lose at all."
When Jordan would come home from LSU, he would set up workouts for Rickey and Justin in the yard, coaching them on the nuances of the game as if they were his teammates.
By the time Justin filled out in high school and learned how to take weightlifting seriously, he also had his big brother back in town to help him master the offense. Jordan had come back to coach quarterbacks at Destrehan after a few years in NFL camps and other pro leagues. Many nights, he would hold a two-hour football school with his younger brother before bedtime.
"I'm speaking on various forms of coverage that he may not see in high school, but going to college, you will see — guaranteed," Jordan Jefferson said. "It was reading defenses, noting coverages, noting blitzes, looking at safety alignment, corner alignment — being able to identify the techniques of the defense to where, when he gets in college, all of this stuff is familiar to him."
It all came together during his final two years at Destrehan with the mirthfulness that would become his signature at LSU: Jefferson would catch punts in practice with one hand, always sneaking in one more round after longtime head coach Steve Robicheaux shot him a look to quit.
During a state quarterfinal game against Mandeville his senior year, Jefferson scored on a crossing route in the final seconds of regulation. He was the holder for the extra point that would have sent the game to overtime.
"I'm scripting the overtime, and I kind of hear the crowd make a noise," Boyne said of the extra-point attempt. "I look up, and I guess he was excited from scoring, but the ball went right through his hands. He was as good a holder as we've ever had, and it went right through his hands. It went back to about the 15-yard line. He just sprinted back, picked it up, and threw a perfect pass to the up back [for a two-point conversion] to win the game.
"That's typical Justin — a mistake, but I'm going to fix it, I'm going to make it right, and that's what I do."
All that remained, for him to get the scholarship Orgeron had left for him, was for Jefferson to improve his grades. He needed five As and a B; he got them all, and took one more summer class for the final credit he needed to begin a run in Baton Rouge that would rank as the best one of any Jefferson.
"Me and my wife kind of stayed to ourselves a lot. One thing we didn't do: We didn't wear jerseys with their names on them," John Jefferson said. "We kind of wanted to enjoy the morning and not talk to fans all the time. It was a wonderful feeling, man. We did a lot of Florida games, Alabama. There's nothing like SEC football — and I didn't experience anything else. It was a blessing that all three of them went to LSU, and all got to experience that."
'A good pro for a good while'
After the Vikings drafted Jefferson in April, offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak got a call from Sullivan, who's now coaching the Arizona Cardinals' wide receivers after working at LSU during Jefferson's first two seasons there.
"I told him, 'Whatever you need him to do, he'll get it done for you,' " Sullivan said. "I just felt like he would fit well with Gary. … He's got a burning competitiveness in him that's kind of like, 'Don't deny me; I'll show you.' He's got a really good catch range, he can catch the ball at all different angles, and he has no fear of going in the middle and taking a hit. I just see him being a good pro for a good while."
Jefferson spent much of Vikings training camp as the team's third wideout behind Adam Thielen and Bisi Johnson, but has played in different spots both outside and in the slot, made a number of highlight catches and shown a nuanced understanding of the position that stems from both his time in LSU's Joe Brady-coordinated prostyle offense and the extra sessions with his brothers.
"I've been very impressed," Kubiak said. "We ask a lot of him trying to teach him our offense, moving around a bunch. Didn't take the approach of we're just going to ask him to do this or that. You know what I mean? We kind of threw it all at him and he's responded."
On Sunday, for the first time in years, Jefferson will play a home game without his parents there to watch. John and Elaine will view the game at home, hopeful they'll be able to travel to U.S. Bank Stadium at some point this season or go to the Vikings' Christmas Day game in New Orleans.
But Justin isn't without family in Minnesota — Rickey is living with him in the Twin Cities, working out with him while helping him with some marketing ideas. He sends Jordan and his parents film from practice and talks to them almost every day.
"It feels really good, to be honest," Justin said. "I'm kind of doing it for them. This was kind of all of our dream. Finally being able to live the dream, to be in a great spot with a great team, it just feels good to be here. They're excited just like I am. I'm excited to have them on this journey."
The next time the family gathers in St. Rose, they'll likely shoot around in the backyard, playing a game of 21 or H-O-R-S-E. Elaine developed a good shot while playing in high school, and though John, a sales manager for Grainger Industrial Supply, is 53 now, he's still able to hold his own.
Not in 1-on-1, though. Justin won't take it easy on him.
"When he was younger? Oh, man, I dominated," John said with a laugh. "I'm still competitive. I can still move a little bit. But he's like, 'I can dominate you now.' He definitely rubs it in."
