Kentucky football’s Mark Stoops chats with media after Georgia loss
Kentucky’s Mark Stoops talks after losing to No. 1 Georgia football by one point Saturday night in Lexington.
As solid as Kentucky defensive back Zion Childress has played in his last two seasons as a full-time starter, the moment that would have made him immortal in Wildcats football lore was erased from the record books.
It’s still in the minds of everyone who witnessed his 55-yard interception return for a touchdown against No. 1 Georgia. And the way Childress has been playing, he’s well on his way to securing his place in UK football history before the season is over.
The 6-foot, 195-pound nickel back from Houston is tied with linebacker D’Eryk Jackson for the team lead with 15 tackles. He also leads the Cats with five tackles for loss.
“Every time the situation gets bigger, the opportunity gets bigger, my game steps up and I’ve always felt like that my whole life,” said Childress, who said he’s been playing organized football since he was 2. “When the light shines bright, I’m the brightest light.”
Childress has played his way into the spotlight.
It wasn’t on him out of high school. He said Louisville was the first offer he received as an underclassmen when Bobby Petrino was the coach. All Childress knew of the Cardinals at the time was Lamar Jackson. And though he played quarterback too, he knew his future in college was going to be as a defensive back.
U of L didn’t follow through in his later years as college recruiters largely overlooked Childress, despite being named the overall Most Valuable Player in his district as a star at New Caney High.
It’s how he ended up playing at Texas State for two seasons. Had he stayed with the Bobcats, he still might have been playing in relative obscurity. But his father, Deric, suggested he transfer so he could move up in competition.
When UK offered him a scholarship, Childress said defensive coordinator Brad White suggested he not take to social media to advertise it because other SEC schools might try to steal him away.
Childress transferred to UK in 2022, after considering TCU and Washington, and brought a lot of what he learned from Texas State with him. Childress admits he wasn’t much of a physical player before learning from his former teammate Troy Lefeged Jr., who was a graduate transfer from Utah State.
“Since I met him back in 2021, the way I play football has completely changed,” Childress said. “I just run around with my hair on fire and hit anything with the ball.”
It sure seemed that way against the Bulldogs. Childress tied Ty Bryant to lead the team with five solo tackles. He added a pass breakup and was just a split second away from recovering a Carson Beck fumbled snap that running back Trevor Etienne recovered.
Those kind of plays are helping define Childress as a ballhawk in the secondary. But none of them were as memorable as the play.
It’s been viewed online, debated on social media and submitted for further review from the Southeastern Conference office.
Childress was in the right spot, intercepting a pass Georgia receiver Dominic Lovett dove for and coughed up into the air as he tried to bring it in. Childress caught it in stride and appeared to give the Cats a 9-0 lead.
People told him it was the loudest they’d ever heard Kroger Field get, but to Childress, he heard silence as he raced down the sideline and crossed into the end zone for the first time since high school. UK and Childress were left to wonder what could have been as the play was overturned upon review and ruled an incomplete pass.
But he’s here to say it won’t be the last time he has fans talking.
“I’ve played good for three weeks, but I want to do it for 12 weeks,” Childress said. “I want to do it for the rest of the season at a consistently high level and that’ll prove to me that I’m the player I say I am.”
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at [email protected], follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
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Publish date : 2024-09-17 13:00:00
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