Monday Headlines: Max’s Revenge Edition

Maxwell Hairston found his revenge on Saturday at Vanderbilt.

By John Morgan Francis@MonJorgan Sep 25, 2023, 6:40am EDT

While Kentucky has several tough games on the back-half of their schedule, one game that was circled early was this past Saturday’s trip to Nashville. Kentucky was flat-out embarrassed last year in Lexington, losing to Vanderbilt in tough fashion. So fans knew that head coach Mark Stoops and his team would want to return the favor.

That itch for a revenge game continued throughout the team — including with rising star and defensive back Maxwell Hairston. He didn’t necessarily play well against the Commodores last season and had this past Saturday’s game on his mind for a while.

Hairston was determined to not let Kentucky lose for a second consecutive year to Vanderbilt and was certainly instrumental his team’s 45-28 victory over the weekend. He returned two interceptions for touchdowns and had four tackles for third-most on the team.

In his second year, Hairston has blossomed not only into a great player for Kentucky but also a leader. He’s had the right mentality and has backed that up with production over the team’s first four games. That’s been impactful and even more promising considering the youth throughout the back-end of Kentucky’s defense.

Despite a great season so far this year, Hairston says he still has room to improve. And that’s true, since everyone could always be better. But Stoops and the rest of his staff have to be thrilled about Hairston and the year he’s starting to put together.

Tweets of the Day

UK CB Maxwell Hairston is second on the team with 23 tackles. He also ranks 1st in the SEC with 3 INT's and 2nd in the league with 6 Passes Defended. Quite the impressive start.
— Freddie Maggard (@FredMaggard606) September 24, 2023

What a start for him.

Kentucky has the two highest-graded cornerbacks in the SEC.

Maxwell Hairston — 85.8 PFF grade
Andru Phillips — 82.0 PFF grade

And Deone Walker is the SEC’s highest-graded interior defender. He has 12 pressures through four games.
— Braxton Drake Howard (@PFF_Braxton) September 24, 2023