Brown is key signee for Cats

Published 1:07 pm Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Larry Vaught/Vaught’s Views    One of the marquee signees for Kentucky last week was Nashville five-star receiver Barion Brown. On3 has him rated as the 14th best player in the country and No. 2 overall receiver. He’s the highest rated receiver ever to sign with the Wildcats.

He picked UK over Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas A&M, Michigan, Penn State, Florida State and Michigan.

So just how good is Brown? I asked Joe Spears who covers prep sports for the Tennessean (@joe_spears7 on Twitter)

Email newsletter signup

“Barion is one of the most talented high school players I’ve ever seen anywhere. He’s easily the fastest football player in the state and also dominates during the track season,” Spears said. “You can’t teach that sort of speed. When he has the ball in his hands, he’s a threat to score at any time. This year his receiving stats weren’t great as his team was working in a younger quarterback but if he gets to work with a quarterback that can consistently get him the ball, I could see him having a breakout season as early as next year.”

But Brown is about more than just pure speed.

“The cuts Barion can make when he has the ball in his hands, it’s stuff you typically only see in video games,” Spears said. “The kid is special and Kentucky fans should be excited about seeing him play.”

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said on national signing day that Brown is “extremely explosive” and hopes he can help the Cats next season.

“He is the complete package that we need,” Stoops said.