Wednesday Headlines: Maxwell Hairston awards and preparing for Florida

Maxwell Hairston was the star of the weekend for Kentucky.

By TJ Barnett@teej__tweets Sep 27, 2023, 6:45am EDT

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Good morning BBN!

Kentucky Wildcats cornerback Maxwell Hairston has been the talk of the town this week.

It began Monday when Hairston was awarded the SEC Defensive Player of the Week title following his standout game against the Vanderbilt Commodores. That was expected, given that the sophomore from Michigan secured two pick-sixes against the Commodores.

On Tuesday, Hairston earned two more major honors. First, he was named the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week.

A short time later, it was announced that Hairston won the Jim Thorpe National Defensive Back of the Week award.

Throughout this season, Hairston has emerged as one of the SEC’s top defenders, and it’s great to see him earn recognition for it.

After reviewing Kentucky’s game footage against Vanderbilt, SEC coaches will surely think twice before throwing passes toward the area covered by No. 31.

As we look ahead to the No. 22 Florida Gators, it’ll be important for the defense to continue stepping up.

Graham Mertz has been dialed in as the Gators’ play-caller after their opener against Utah can dink-and-dunk you to death, something we’ve seen teams do to Kentucky’s defense at times.

While the Cats looked better on offense against Vandy, there was still some sloppy play in the 2nd and 3rd quarters that must be cleaned up to beat a team the caliber of Florida.

It’ll be an early one for BBN to get rowdy for, but Mark Stoops is confident that Kentuckians are up for the challenge.

Tweet of the Day

The Boozer twins are looking really great in some Kentucky jerseys. #BBN pic.twitter.com/iCassjzixd
— Chris Beasmore (@CBeasmoreSports) September 27, 2023