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Kentucky wide reciever Barion Brown plans to enter transfer portal

Nakos updated headshotby: Pete Nakos12/05/24PeteNakos_
Barion Brown
USA Today Sports

Kentucky wide receiver Barion Brown plans to enter the transfer portal. The former four-star and top-100 recruit has one year of eligibility remaining.

A former On3 Freshman All-American, Brown has 122 career receptions for 1,528 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in his 37 career games at Kentucky. The 6-foot-1, 182-pound junior was a Preseason First Team All-America selection entering 2024 but finished with a career-low 29 catches for 361 yards and three touchdowns.

The Kentucky passing game struggled this season, ranked No. 110 in the nation and averaging just 184.8 yards per game. That impacted Barion Brown’s production, leading to his decision to step away from the Wildcats program and enter the transfer portal.

A Nashville native, Brown is immediately viewed as one of the top wide receivers available in the transfer portal. The wide receiver was injured against Tennessee in November, missing Kentucky’s FCS matchup with Murray State because of the injury.

Brown is also a special teams weapon. He scored on a 99-yard kickoff against Florida earlier this season, marking the fifth kickoff return touchdown of his career. That’s the most of any player in SEC history. Brown already ranks first in UK history in kickoff return average (29.3 yards per return). He set the single-season school marks in return average (36 yards per return) and scores (three) in 2023.

Coming out of high school, Brown picked Kentucky over Alabama, TCU and Ole Miss. The wide receiver is the sixth highest-ranked commit in Kentucky history. His exit comes as Kentucky closes the 2024 season with a 4-8 record and 1-7 mark in the SEC, with questions lingering about the future direction of the program.

The transfer portal officially opens on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. More than 2,800 FBS scholarship players entered their names into the NCAA’s transfer database during the 2023-24 school year. Removing those who withdrew or went pro, the final total sat at 2,707 transfers. That means roughly 25% of all FBS scholarship players hit free agency in one year.