BlakeBest

Career

• Four-year starter at long snapper, playing in all 52 career games
• Perfect on all snaps in his career
• 2019 First-Team CoSIDA Academic All-American with a perfect 4.0 GPA
• 2019 Second-Team Google Cloud Academic All-American® with a perfect 4.0 GPA
• Seven-time member of the Dean’s List
• Four-time member of the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll
• Part of a senior class who won 32 games over the last four seasons, the most wins for UK in a four-year span since 1949-52, when Paul “Bear” Bryant coached the Cats
• Helped UK advance to four consecutive bowl appearances and back-to-back bowl wins for the first time since the 2007 Music City Bowl and 2009 Liberty Bowl
• Graduated summa cum laude in December of 2018 with a double major in economics and finance with a perfect 4.0 GPA

2019 – Senior

• Started in all 13 games as the long snapper for field goals and PATs
• Perfect on all snaps (14 field goals, 46 extra points)
• Was a candidate for the 2019 Burlsworth Trophy given to the most outstanding football player who began his career as a walk-on and has shown outstanding performance on the field
• Named First-Team CoSIDA Academic All-American with a perfect 4.0 GPA
• 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-District® Football Team

2018 – Junior

• Started in all 13 games as the long snapper for field goals and PATs
• Perfect on all snaps (9 field goals, 43 extra points)
• Second-Team 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-American® 
• 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Football Team
• Named to SEC Academic Honor Roll
• Dean’s List (Fall 2018) with a perfect 4.0 GPA

2017 – Sophomore

• Started in 13 games as the long snapper for field goals and PATs
• Perfect on all snaps (13 field goals, 32 extra points)
• Named to the Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll
• Dean’s List (Fall 2017)

2016 – r-Freshman

• Started in 13 games as the long snapper for field goals and PATs
• Perfect on all snaps (19 field goals, 45 extra points)
• Integral part of setting up kicker Austin MacGinnis to hit two game-winning field goals (51-yarder vs. Mississippi State and a 47-yarder at No. 11 Louisville)
• Named to the Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll
• Dean’s List (Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017)

2015 – Freshman

• Redshirt season
• Dean’s List (Fall 2015)

High School

• Three-year starter at long snapper and offensive line, helping the Lions chart a 7-4 record in his senior season
• Also was a two-year letter winner in baseball at Peachtree Ridge
• Earned a National Merit Scholarship to Kentucky 
• Named to the All-Academic first team in 2014 with a 4.1 grade point average
• Founder of MENtoring, a mentoring group for freshman student-athletes
• Also a member of the Student-Athlete Leadership Team at PRHS
• Coached by Mark Fleetwood
• Applied only to Kentucky but had interest from Clemson, Southern Methodist and Princeton

Personal

• Born in Dallas, Texas
• Son of Tom and Lynne Best
• Tom played football at Princeton from 1985-88, while uncle, Paul Gunsallus, played baseball at Louisiana Tech and his brother, Billy Best, played baseball at Greater Gwinnett College

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Community Cats

• Stayed after practice to spend time with the Special Olympics (2015)

Blake Says

• He chose Kentucky because his mom is an alumna and it was a great opportunity to play for a great school
• One word to describe him on the field is “consistent”
• He couldn’t live without his dogs and family
• His favorite part of game day is running out of the tunnel
• His sports hero is any long snapper because they are living his dream