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Craig Yeast might be Kentucky’s all-time leading receiver but he says what freshman Barion Brown did in 2022 was “ridiculous” and he sees even bigger things ahead for the talented receiver.
“He’s bigger than I ever was and he is super fast,” said Yeast, who is now the head coach at Mercer County High School. “To make the plays he did as a freshman was phenomenal.”
Brown had a team-best 50 catches for a team-high 628 yards — 12.6 yards per catch — and four touchdowns in 2022. The catches and yards were both freshman records at UK. His four touchdowns were second most by a UK freshman behind the six by teammate Dane Key in 2022.
His name spread nationally when he caught 10 passes for 145 yards and one score against eventual national champion Georgia. It was the most catches in a game by a freshman at UK in 22 years.
Brown also ranked second nationally and led the SEC with one kickoff return for a touchdown and ranked fourth nationally in kick return average at 27.5 yards per return.
“He was making plays in the kicking game before he was making those big plays in the passing game,” Yeast said. “He has a chance to be a great receiver at UK and in the SEC. Sometimes your sophomore year you can hit a slump but I am hoping he will play even better than he did last year when he really came on those last six or seven games.”
