Barion Brown can run even faster, says fellow speedster Trevin Wallace

Speed was on display in Kentucky Football‘s win over Ball State last Saturday in Lexington. The Wildcats have some wheels, led by speedster Barion Brown, the SEC’s Special Teams Player of the Week. Brown was clocked at 21.8 MPH on his 99-yard kickoff return touchdown, the fastest time across all ball-carriers in college football last weekend, according to Reel Analytics.

RA’s Top 10 Fastest Ball Carriers: Week 1 #ReelSpeed💨

🔗 https://t.co/orrD05a6an pic.twitter.com/qRCcySZl5q

— Reel Analytics (@RAanalytics) September 6, 2023

Let’s watch Brown’s KR TD one more time:

What can Brown do for you??

Keep kicking it to him. Please. pic.twitter.com/WA85Dbxa3u

— KSR (@KSRonX) September 2, 2023

Kentucky’s speed has been a talking point since the weekend, beginning with Mark Stoops’ Monday comments about Trevin Wallace, Kentucky’s other POTW. Wallace earned the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Week award, and on Monday, Mark Stoops spoke highly of Wallace’s speed at linebacker.

“He can obviously run like heck,” said Stoops. “I want to say he ran, on our GPS — don’t quote me exactly — but I want to say it was the second-fastest time in the whole game. It was like 21-something miles per hour, 21-point something. I mean, that’s moving for a dude who’s 240 pounds. He can run.”

On Wednesday, Wallace was standing at the interview podium when Jeff Drummond asked him if he could claim the top spot as fastest on the team.

“Y’all know who has the top spot? Barion!” Wallace replied. “I can say, me, personally, I don’t think Barion is really running his full speed because I’ve seen, working out, I’ve seen Barion hit almost 23 (MPH). That’s going to be a little bit pushing it (for me). I might pull a hamstring or something running that fast.”

Kahlil Saunders can move, too

Though not quite 21 or 23 MPH fast, Kentucky defensive lineman Kahlil Saunders can still get around for his size. The 285-pound defensive tackle posted 18 MPH speed in the win over Ball State. His coordinator, Brad White, loved the hustle, especially on one play in particular.

“That is a big man moving. Everybody sees the sacks. The play that sticks out for me is when they were running to the edge, and he set the edge, the ball broke, and he ran flat down the line. That was an impressive, impressive play for a big man.”

White said Saunders has had that twitch and explosion since his freshman season.

Saunders explained, “I’ve always been able to move, but as I got heavier, I had to work on that.”