'Did I do that today?' Kentucky's Barion Brown's record kick return ignites Gator Bowl
One touchdown running. One receiving. One more, a record-breaker, on a kickoff return.
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.
Yes, indeed, and if those plays had been the only memorable moments of Brown's afternoon, his Gator Bowl would have gone down as an unqualified triumph.
From the Gator Bowl's greatest kickoff return of all time, 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.
"When you have a guy like Barion that… has the speed and can make somebody miss, he is a threat," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said.
BROWN BREAKS GATOR BOWL KICK RETURN RECORD
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 "A" behind the opposite goal line, almost from C to shining C, Brown's return covered 102 yards. Officially, under NCAA statistical conventions, it goes down as 100.
During halftime, Brown said, he had already made up his mind to run the ball back.
"I was just telling my coaches, I'm taking it out. I'm not taking a knee, I'm not letting it hit the ground," he said.
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 accelerated through an attempted tackle there by the Tigers' Rob Billings and never looked back.
"I saw a hole, hit it, a couple of guys were trying to chase me, didn't go out of bounds and celebration," Brown said.
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.
COSTLY FUMBLE, AND REDEMPTION
One fourth-quarter play, though, left a sting for Brown.
Running with a pass from Devin Leary along the sideline, he was stripped of the ball by Clemson safety Khalil Barnes, and linebacker Barrett Carter recovered. That set up the third for four touchdowns from Phil Mafah, pushing the Tigers into a 27-21 lead.
But Brown immediately found redemption. Breaking wide open behind Clemson's secondary, Brown grabbed Leary's pass and carried it for a 60-yard touchdown to briefly restore the Wildcats' lead.
He was also the first Wildcat to score, taking a 22-yard jet sweep for a first-quarter touchdown, and might have further boosted his all-purpose yardage count in the third quarter. That time, his 32-yard rush got wiped out when officials flagged tight end Jordan Dingle for a 15-yard facemask on a play that offensive coordinator Liam Coen cited as a turning point.
"We had all the momentum in the world on our side," Coen said.
Brown is becoming a magnet for the end zone. The touchdown return enters the books as his third of the season, after scoring a 99-yarder in the season opener against Ball State and a 100-yard score against rival Louisville on Nov. 25. He also scored a kickoff return in 2022 against Miami-Ohio.
"His process over the last couple weeks has been really, really sharp," Coen said. "So hopefully, it's a momentum builder for us."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Barion Brown: Kentucky returner sets records at TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
