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The last person to believe everything that Barion Brown accomplished at Friday’s TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville was Barion Brown.
“Did I do that today?” the Kentucky wide receiver responded when asked about his unprecedented touchdown hat trick.
From the GOAT of Gator Bowl kickoff returns, to a fumble that sparked fears of becoming the game’s goat of a more conventional type, to an afternoon ending as most valuable player in a losing cause, the sophomore experienced a roller coaster of an afternoon to ring out 2023 at EverBank Stadium in the Wildcats’ 38-35 loss to Clemson.
After 78 years of Jacksonville’s college football bowl tradition, Brown — a 6-1, 174-pound sophomore from Nashville, Tenn. — now has a record to call his own.
From its starting point at the C in the “JACKSONVILLE” text in the end zone to the opposite goal line, Brown’s return covered 102 yards. Officially, under NCAA statistical conventions, it goes down as 100.
Kentucky Wildcats wide receiver Barion Brown (7) scores a touchdown during the first quarter of an NCAA football matchup in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
The bowl’s longest kickoff return entering Friday was the 99-yard dash by Florida receiver Andre Debose in the second quarter on Jan. 2, 2012, when the Gators defeated Ohio State 24-17.
It’s the second consecutive Gator Bowl in which a player took a return the length of the field. Last year, South Carolina defensive back O’Donnell Fortune scored off a field-length interception, taking a Notre Dame pass 100 yards back to the end zone in the Gamecocks’ 45-38 loss.
He receiving the second-half kick from Clemson’s Robert Gunn III 2 yards deep in the end zone, Brown began crossing from the right side of the field to the left around his own 15. He…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/did-today-kentuckys-barion-browns-214425848.html
Author : The Florida Times-Union
Publish date : 2023-12-29 21:44:25
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