For a guy who is considered a potential first-round draft pick, Florida cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy took awhile to record his first career interception. You read that right -- cover skills good enough for first-round draft hype, but not good enough to pick off a pass until midway through his junior year?
That's Purifoy.
He ran the interception back 42 yards for a touchdown against Arkansas in an easy home victory for the Gators.
But Purifoy wasn't satisfied just with that. He also stuffed the stat sheet with an 8-yard sack, a forced fumble, three pass breakups and a quarterback hurry among four tackles. And -- oh yeah -- 17 punt return yards. The sack and forced fumble came on the same play, when Purifoy blitzed and hit Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen.
"When I seen that he still had the ball in his hands, my eyes got big," Purifoy said, according to palmbeachpost.com. "If I can get to him when he has the ball in his hands, I'm going to get it out."
It was the strongest performance of the year to date for one of the Southeastern Conference's most gifted athletes.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.