Barion Brown is backing up the confidence he had when he got to UK

As soon as Barion Brown gets in the open field, former UK player Anthony White says defenders will take angles to keep him out of the end zone. (Vicky Graff Photo)

At Kentucky’s Media Day freshman Barion Brown was confident he could have a big impact on kickoff return. He was one of the nation’s elite receivers in the 2022 recruiting class, but he also knew his speed and ability to maneuver in traffic would make him a dangerous kick returner.

He was right.

Brown is leading the nation in kickoff returns at 47.7 yards per return. That includes a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and an 85-yard kickoff return last week at Mississippi.

Brown was named the Southeastern Conference co-Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week after he amassed 245 all-purpose yards on just five touches in the 22-19 loss to then-No. 14 Ole Miss. The only other UK freshman to do that was Benny Snell in 2016.

The freshman from Nashville was also named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week after the season opener when he had his 100-yard kickoff return. He is the first UK player to win a SEC weekly award three times in a single season since Lynn Bowden in 2019.

So five games into his freshman season, the 6-1, 165-pound Brown is putting his name in the company of UK stars Snell and Bowden — who are both now in the NFL.

Brown was beyond special against Ole Miss. He had the 85-yard kickoff return but also a 54-yard return that it looked like he was going to score on before tripping over a teammate. He is the only FBS player with two kick returns of at least 80 yards this season.

He also caught two passes for 81 yards and averaged 49 yards per touch on his five touches against Ole Miss. He almost turned a screen pass into a winning touchdown in the fourth quarter before barely being caught from behind.

“The difference in scoring and getting caught is the speed in the SEC,” former UK all-SEC running back Anthony White said. “Both times when he got caught, he had chances to score. But the speed of everyone in the SEC is faster. They (defenders) are also going to immediately take angles, especially on kickoffs, to keep him from the end zone. They are not chasing him. They immediately take an angle.”

“You also have to think when you are a freshman about how SEC defensive backs can punch the ball out. You want to make sure you are protecting the ball and not turning it over and that can slow you down just enough for those guys to catch you.”

Brown has 15 catches for 282 yards, an average of 18.8 yards per catch, and ranks fourth in the SEC in all-purpose yards per game at 114.2 yards. So teams are going to keep paying a lot of attention to him like Ole Miss tried to do and South Carolina will on Saturday night.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said Monday the “scary thing” about Brown is that the team can block better on kickoffs for him.

“We felt like there were some guys that didn’t do a good job on that. Then there was enough that gave him the crease and so you know we have to pat the guys on the back that are doing a good job of really giving the guy a chance,” Stoops said.

“If you give him a chance, he can hurt you and there are some guys that need to step up and improve.”