Kentucky Linebacker Sam Greene Named SEC Defensive Player of the Week

Kentucky outside linebacker Sam Greene has been named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced Monday. Greene is UK’s first league weekly award winner this season after the Wildcats went on the road and defeated No. 9/8 Texas A&M, 31-21, in front of more than 100,000 Aggie faithful.

Greene, a 6-foot-2, 251-pound senior from Washington, D.C., made numerous game-changing plays in UK’s upset. He totaled an interception, six tackles, one-half tackle for loss and a fourth-down stop for turnover on downs

On the Aggies’ first possession of the game, they drove to the UK 11. On 4th-and-1, Greene stormed in from his outside linebacker post to drop the runner for no gain and turn the ball over on downs.

That was just the appetizer for Greene.

On the Aggies’ second possession of the game, the home team drove to the UK 27, where Greene again quelled the advance, intercepting a pass and returning it seven yards. In the third quarter, on a 3rd-and-2 play, he again sliced from the edge to hold the runner to no gain, forcing a punt that Kentucky eventually turned into a touchdown drive as the Cats took control of the game.

Greene has had a sensational start to the season after spending much of his offseason rehabilitating from a major knee injury that landed him on the preseason Comeback Player of the Year Award watch list. He has 10.0 tackles and an interception through three games.

The Wildcats (2-1, 1-1 SEC) return home Saturday, Sept. 26 to play host to South Alabama at 12:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Tickets are available on ukathletics.com.