Maxwell Hairston Named Bronko Nagurski Trophy National Player of the Week

What happens when you become the first player in Kentucky football history to record two pick-sixes in a single game, tying a Southeastern Conference record? The accolades go nuts. That’s been the case for Wildcat defensive back Maxwell Hairston.

It started with SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors, announced by the league on Monday. And then Tuesday, the Football Writers Association of America announced Hairston as the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week.

He was also named the Jim Thorpe National Defensive Back of the Week by the National College Football Awards Association later this afternoon.

The standout corner finished with four tackles and three pass breakups to go with the pair of interceptions returned for a total of 83 yards and two scores. Two of his breakups came on series of downs that resulted in punts while also keeping short completions from turning into long plays, all four of his tackles coming on plays of 11 yards or less. He sits at 23 tackles, one tackle for loss, three interceptions, three pass breakups and a forced fumble through four games.

The FWAA selects a Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week each week throughout the regular season, a tradition dating back to 2001. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce finalists for the 2023 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 15. The national defensive player of the year will be chosen from those finalists who are part of the 2023 FWAA All-America Team and presented with the trophy at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet on Dec. 4 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Players may be added or removed from the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list during the course of the season. If not already on the watch list, each week’s honored player, including Hairston this week, will be added at that time.

“He gets more and more confidence the more and more he plays,” head coach Mark Stoops said of Hairston. “Both him and Andru (Phillips) are really playing at a good level right now. They both are doing some really good things. It’s good for him.”

“I was proud of my boy,” senior linebacker D’Eryk Jackson added. “He got two picks — I think that was the first time that happened in Kentucky history. I’m proud of him.”

A former three-star recruit out of West Bloomfield (MI) High, the 6-1 back redshirted in 2021 before totaling two tackles across 12 games in 2022. Now a full-time starter, Hairston has emerged as one of Kentucky’s most consistent playmakers on the defense.

(UK Athletics)