Barion Brown's career day vs. Georgia put him in Kentucky's freshman record book

Kentucky wasn’t able to complete the upset of the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, but it was a bright day for the Wildcats’ young pass-catchers once the offense opened up the playbook late in the comeback attempt. Quarterback Will Levis completed 20 passes to five different players in the game and four of the five were either true freshmen or a redshirt freshman, in addition to a career game for JuTahn McClain, a junior running back, getting targeted out of the backfield for five catches.

However, no one had a better day than star freshman receiver Barion Brown with his 10 catches for 145 yards and a touchdown. The 145-yard day is the second-best performance in Kentucky school history by a freshman and he is only the fourth wide receiver since the year 2000 to record at least 10 receptions, 145 receiving yards, and a touchdown reception against Georgia. The others who’ve accomplished that feat are Cedric Tillman, DeVonta Smith and Jarvis Landry (h/t Corey Price for checking history). That’s pretty good company.

Brown also broke Derek Abney’s single-season freshman record of 40 catches in 2000. He now has 41 on the year while extending his freshman receiving yardage record to 650.

After the game, Mark Stoops was surprised to learn Brown got up to double-digit receptions against the ‘Dawgs.

“I didn’t realize it was 10,” Stoops replied when Brown’s stat line was read aloud in the postgame press conference. “That’s impressive. I thought he really responded well and, you know, youngsters that are that talented, you’re going to have some moments, some games where it’s like this and some games where it’s very tough, and you have to respond either way. So, pretty impressive by him; some of the competitive catches down the field were really good to see and something to build on.”

Watch the latest Mark Stoops press conference on the KSR YouTube Channel.

Brown’s offensive coordinator, Rich Scangarello, also bragged about Kentucky’s young playmaker.

“Love him, man. He’s a stud,” said Scangarello. “One thing is, he got here in August or July, and he’s (165 lbs.). That guy is going to put on 10, 15 pounds and he is going to be a special football player. He’s got the competitive greatness and he’s wired the right way and I love him to death quite honestly, just as a person and a player.”

When asked how Brown is so advanced at such a young age when he wasn’t a full-time wide receiver in high school, Scangarello said Brown has the intangibles to be special.

“Some of the great receivers you run across, they won’t have to practice a lot of things to get it right. He’s one of those guys, you can literally show, hey this is what Desean Jackson did on this play, or this is how this guy did it, and he can go out and do it. His mental and football IQ is very high. He retains things very well and he’s a football player at heart and he’s going to be a real special player for a long time.”

Brown was not made available for conversation after his big game.