Maxwell Hairston is on the Jim Thorpe Award Watch List

Fresh off of a breakout 2023 campaign, Maxwell Hairston is one of the most talked about Kentucky Wildcats around the SEC. This preseason the UK cornerback is in consideration for a few awards, including the most prestigious given to college football defensive backs.

On Wednesday the Jim Thorpe Award unveiled its watch list of the 42 top college defensive backs and Hairston made the cut.

In 2023 nobody in the SEC had more interceptions than Hairston. His five picks were the most by a Kentucky Wildcat since Sam Maxwell in 2009 and the fifth-most by a Cat in a single season. He was tied for fifth nationally in interceptions.

What’s even more remarkable about Hairston’s 2023 season: four of those interceptions were against SEC foes and none of them happened after the Kentucky bye week in mid-October. Opponents simply quit throwing the ball to his side of the field. He returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a three-touchdown win at Vanderbilt.

At SEC Media Days Hairston was a Preseason First Team All-SEC selection. In addition to the Thorpe Award, he’s also on the Nagurski Trophy watch list. This year the Detroit native will wear No. 1 for the Wildcats.

UNO pic.twitter.com/fVeJJ9JWen

— MadMax ¹ᵏ (@MHairston22) July 31, 2024

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About the Jim Thorpe Award

The Jim Thorpe Award has been given annually to college football’s top defensive back since 1986. The winner receives the honor at the annual Home Depot College Football Awards Show in December.

The award’s namesake is one of the greatest athletes this country has ever seen. The Associated Press named him the greatest athlete of the first 50 years of the 20th century. Thorpe was a professional athlete in baseball, basketball, and football. He won the gold medal in the pentathlon and the decathlon at the 1912 Olympics.

On the gridiron, he was an All-American for Pop Warner, then a three-time NFL Champion for the Canton Bulldogs. He also served as the first president of the organization that later became known as the NFL. Jim Thorpe’s athletic resume is incomparable.

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