Oct. 22—Parker Jefferson was indoctrinated into Arkansas fandom years before he could tie his own shoes, dribble a basketball or even put together a coherent sentence.
There wasn't really a choice for someone whose parents met as college athletes in Fayetteville, Ark., outfitted their children in Arkansas apparel — the novelty rubber Razorback hog noses were always a hit — and routinely made the five-hour drive from the Dallas area to their college town to visit family and attend football and basketball games.
Yes, Jefferson could probably perform a perfect rendition of the iconic Arkansas "Woo Pig Sooie" rally cry, but he'll have to abstain when the sophomore forward and his Gonzaga teammates take the floor for Saturday's 1 p.m. PT exhibition (SEC Network+) between the Bulldogs and Razorbacks.
"I can remember having them laying on my lap when kids are too young to even move their arms and legs," mother Carrie Jefferson said Thursday during a phone interview. "Kind of like you'd play peek-a-boo with a kid, I'd raise their arms and go 'Woooooo Pig Sooie.' My kids have literally been learning how to 'Call the Hogs' since they were infants."
Saturday's meeting is nothing more than an exhibition, unless you're one of the estimated three- to four-dozen family members or friends seated in the Jeffersons' section at Bud Walton Arena.
On Wednesday, the Gonzaga forward reported the official headcount was 22. The next day, his mother offered a correction: that's only how many tickets Parker managed to gather from Gonzaga teammates and coaches willing to offload some of their own. The actual number could be closer to 40, Carrie confirmed, with nearly 20 relatives, former Arkansas women's basketball teammates and other acquaintances expected to purchase their own seats or use season tickets.
"Man, I had to basically scramble to get as many (tickets) as I could," Parker said.
It's an especially meaningful occasion for Carrie, who was born roughly 75 miles south in the small town of Charleston, Ark., where Parker's grandparents still reside. With no professional sports in the state and no major college programs that could compare with Arkansas, Carrie was raised on Razorbacks football and basketball, idolizing Hall of Fame hoops coaches Eddie Sutton (1975-85) and Nolan Richardson (1985-2002).
"I was really little then ... I really didn't understand there was a men's and women's. I was just saying, I was going to grow up and play for Nolan Richardson," Carrie said. "So it was pretty cool to then go there and get to be around Nolan. So when you're raised in Arkansas, you're just a Razorback fan. It's kind of by default."
Carrie suspects it could be emotional watching her son jog through the tunnel and onto the court Saturday afternoon. She enjoys telling people she "opened" Bud Walton Arena 33 years ago, and it's not far from the truth. Carrie's freshman season in '93 began just weeks after construction finished on the 19,368-seat building that now sits in the heart of campus. She and Arkansas teammates would finish practice at Barnhill Arena, strap on hardhats and wander over to the construction site, where workers were still bolting seats into the ground.
"We got to kind of be involved in the process of designing our locker room and that kind of thing," said Carrie, who had the opportunity to watch daughter Kaylee play at Bud Walton during her tenure at Sam Houston State. "It's just such a nostalgic thing. ... I can't even describe it. I literally feel like I can still feel the sweat I poured out there."
Fayetteville is also where Carrie met Jefferson's father, Mike, an offensive lineman on the Razorbacks' football team who hailed from Germany before moving to Louisville, Ky. Carrie and Mike met at a popular college bar, where they were introduced by Mike's football teammate and began dating after an Arkansas Athletes Outreach event. Jefferson's parents are now separated, but both plan to be in attendance for Saturday's exhibition.
Parker attended games at Bud Walton as a kid and returned in 2022 as a prospective Arkansas basketball player. Eric Musselman offered a scholarship to the three-star prospect — then rated as one of the top 45 centers in the country — and easily persuaded Jefferson to take an official visit as a high school sophomore.
But any chance of Jefferson following in his parents' footsteps fizzled when Musselman left for USC. Jefferson passed up on an offer from the Trojans to sign at Minnesota before reopening his recruitment when Gophers coach Ben Johnson was fired. One month later, he was committed to Gonzaga.
"Obviously it was good for the storyline and having parents there," Jefferson said. "It was a cool thing that I was getting recruited by them, but my parents were never pushing it on me."
Jefferson and his mother have traded stories about their varying experiences as college athletes.
"We're so spoiled now, the student-athletes. They were barely even getting a pack of ramen noodles from their coaches," Parker laughed.
Carrie concurred.
"Every recruiting visit we went on, we'd see the protein shake bar or whatever different places had," she said. "I would be like, oh my gosh I would've killed for an extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich sometimes. They would just roll their eyes at me and I was like, you guys don't even understand."
Carrie and her Arkansas teammates resided in dorms at the top of a large hill and often navigated tricky winter conditions to make practices at Bud Walton, located at the base of the slick and icy slope.
"Coach (Gary) Blair would be like, well you ladies figure out a way to get to practice," she said. "There were great memories of us getting out and sledding down the hill."
In 1995, Carrie and the Razorbacks qualified for the school's fifth NCAA Tournament. She played one minute off the bench in a first-round win over San Francisco at Seattle's Alaska Airlines Arena, but didn't log any time during a second-round loss to Washington.
Parker, who redshirted in 2025-26, expects a good mix of Gonzaga and Arkansas colors in the Jeffersons' section on Saturday but hopes to see more navy blue No. 32 jerseys than cardinal red T-shirts. Two of Jefferson's younger cousins have custom-printed shirts with both logos and hearts underneath. A former Arkansas women's basketball teammate told Carrie she planned to wear a Gonzaga hat with a Razorback shirt.
"I think they might still be calling the Hogs, who knows, but they'll probably, definitely, hopefully be in some blue and red," he said.
Carrie relayed her biggest concern before picking up older son Michael on Thursday and driving to Fayetteville from the family's home in Waxahachie, Texas.
"Somebody's just going to have to forgive me if I raise my arms and start calling the Hogs," she said. "It's just something you learn as a little kid."