Al was born on January 4, 1985 in Monticello, Mississippi his mother Laura worked as an assistant teacher in Prentiss Elementary School, and his father was killed in a work-related accident when he was very young. However he had a loved for basketball at a young age and his father Dr. Jefferson had been a stand-out player, earning a scholarship in the early 1970s to play for the University of Southern Mississippi. Jefferson who was traded to the Minnesota Timberlakes on July 31, 2007, who had a good year however; he was traded on July 13, 2010, to the Utah Jazz in exchange for two future first round picks and center Kosta Koufos.