Keidron Smith brings up "soft" comments to Roman Harper
It’s been one week since Roman Harper called Kentucky “soft” and predicted Florida would beat the Cats “handily” in the Swamp. That clearly didn’t happen, in part thanks to those comments, which added fuel to Kentucky’s fire all week. After the 26-16 victory over the Gators, Mark Stoops yelled “Who’s soft now!” to his team in the locker room and dropped references to Harper’s comments in postgame interviews. Last night, Kentucky defensive back Keidron Smith, one of the stars of the win, did the same on “SEC Now,” which was especially sweet because Roman Harper was at the desk alongside Alyssa Lang and Matt Stinchcomb.
“We have respect for ourselves,” Smith said. “We knew we could go in there and get a win. We weren’t trying to prove anybody wrong. Our mindset was to come in there and be a hard-fought team. We got called soft earlier in the week so we had a little extra motivation about that but we came in there in the Swamp. We had a little adversity, but we battled out, stayed together as a team, and came out with a win.”
“Keidron, you guys got called soft?” Harper said, smiling. “What? Did I hear that correctly?”
“Yeah, we got called soft. I don’t know who said it.”
“Clearly, Keidron, it was myself and I want to say, number one, are you guys going to send me a thank you note and pay me for being the juice for this win that helped you guys put you all over down in Florida?”
Smith on his game-changing interception
Jokes aside, Harper moved the conversation on to Smith’s incredible performance in the Swamp. The Ole Miss transfer picked off Anthony Richardson and returned the ball 65 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to put the Cats up 23-16. It was the sixth interception of his career. Last week vs. Miami (OH), Smith scooped up a fumble caused by Tyrell Ajian and returned it 23 yards to set up a Kentucky touchdown. He’s one of only two SEC players with an interception and a fumble recovery this season.
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“When I was setting up, they ran the play earlier in the drive so we were in a certain type of defense and he didn’t throw it, so I knew it would come back because it was open that one play so when they lined up in the same formation, I was like, oh yeah, I’m going to get him and it worked out in my favor and I was able to make the play to change the game.”
Smith: Gator > Chicken
On Monday night, the Cats feasted on gator at their team dinner. Will Levis’ picture of the gator wrapped in bacon went viral; Smith revealed it was actually one of two gators on the menu that night. That one was smoked and there was another fried gator on the side.
“It was my first time trying gator and I actually like it,” Smith said. “It tastes like chicken. It actually tastes better than chicken to me. It was a great experience and funny. A little petty, but it was good.”
A little petty is always good.
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