Ty Bryant receives national recognition for career performance vs. Ole Miss

by: Zack Geoghegan16 hours agoZGeogheganKSR

Kentucky safety Ty Bryant - Mont Dawson, Kentucky Sports Radio

Ty Bryant played arguably his best game yet as a Kentucky Wildcat on Saturday against Ole Miss. A few days later, the Lexington native is deservedly being recognized for it.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Bryant was named an honorable mention for the Thorpe Award National DB of the Week. The junior safety recorded 10 tackles in Kentucky’s 30-23 loss to the Rebels, tying a team-high, with one of those tackles coming for a loss. He also picked off Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons twice in the first quarter, returning them for a combined 25 yards the other way.

UNLV’s Aamaris Brown was named the Thorpe Award National DB of the Week, while Grambling State’s Tyrell Raby won the HBCU DB of the Week honor. Bryant shared the honorable mention title with Army’s Collin Matteson.

.@Ty_Bryant32 is a Jim Thorpe Award DB of the Week.

📰🔗 https://t.co/5t1xRdFp1v pic.twitter.com/5YfazAKDc3
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 9, 2025

Bryant’s 10 tackles against Ole Miss were two shy of his career-high, which he set as a true freshman in 2023 against Tennessee. The Frederick Douglass product came into last weekend with just one interception to his name after 26 career college games (including 14 starts), but he doubled that up in just one quarter of action against Ole Miss. He became the first Wildcat since Anthony Wajda in 1999 vs. LSU to record two interceptions in a single SEC home game.

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Thanks to his defensive playmaking, Bryant, who is now up to 102 career tackles, was able to help Kentucky take a 10-0 lead against the Rebels early on.

“They were huge, they were big momentum changers. It gave us a lot to look forward to,” Senior linebacker Daveren Rayner said of Bryant’s two picks. “When somebody can do those type of things and put the ball back in the offense’s hands, we gotta continue to build and take advantage of it.”

Kentucky’s secondary as a whole still needs some work, especially when it comes to tackling receivers in open space, but Bryant was more than worthy of this weekly honor.