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Less than 24 hours after Kentucky sophomore Maxwell Hairston intercepted two passes and returned both for touchdowns in Saturday’s win at Vanderbilt, Kentucky Sports Radio’s Jack Pilgrim predicted on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports Talk that he would be the national defensive player of the week.
Both former UK all-SEC running back Anthony White and myself were not so sure. We went along with him being the likely SEC defensive player of the week but thought it would be hard to get the national honor even after doing something no other UK player had ever done.
Guess what? Hairston received not one, but two national player of the week honors Tuesday.
He was named the Jim Thorpe National Defensive Back of the Week and the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week. And yes, he was the SEC player of the week after tying the conference record with his two interception returns for scores in the 45-28 win at Vandy.
He ran the first one back 29 yards untouched and went 54 yards through and around defenders for the score.
Hairston had four tackles on plays of 11 yards or less and three pass breakups.
Hairston has 23 tackles, one tackle for loss, three interceptions, three pass breakups and a forced fumble going into Saturday’s game with Florida.
One Response
Bring it Saturday Max ‘!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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