ATHENS — When Jalon Walker walked off Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky, on Saturday night, his white Georgia jersey was covered with blood.
It wasn’t his. It belonged to Brock Vandagriff.
No one had more contact with Kentucky’s quarterback than Walker. The Bulldogs’ junior linebacker was in Vandagriff’s face all night, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at Walker’s stat line from the game.
In the official box score distributed at the end of the game, the 6-foot-2, 245-pound Walker was credited with two tackles, one pass deflection and one quarterback hurry. Blatantly missing were any sacks.
Give Vandagriff some credit for that. The former Georgia quarterback did a good job of getting rid of the football with Walker and others in his face. Often, those throwaways were haphazard flings that miraculously did not land in the arms of the Bulldogs. Vandagriff also used his legs several times to escape pressure.
More AJC coverage of the Bulldogs
Walker was not credited for arguably the best play he made Saturday. The Wildcats faced third-and-4 at their own 14 with 7:18 remaining in the second quarter. Lined up on the left side of the Bulldogs’ defense, Walker made a quick cut to the inside of right tackle Gerald Mincey and a beeline to Vandagriff. Without breaking stride or leaving his feet, Walker made a textbook-form, shoulder-first tackle on Vandagriff, who at the last second slung the ball to his right.