Receiver Jordan Payton hits career highs in UCLA’s win at Virginia

Watching Jordan Payton play football can sometimes feel like watching a battering ram dressed in pads and a helmet.

UCLA’s junior receiver doesn’t jump the highest. He won’t wow anyone with pure speed. But you can be damn sure the 6-foot-1, 213-pound wideout isn’t going down on the first tackle.

Payton caught eight passes for 98 yards on Saturday, setting new career highs and playing a key role in the Bruins’ 28-20 win at Virginia.

His capped the game in fitting fashion. With 3:07 left in the fourth quarter, the Bruins were backed up on their own 18-yard line. On third-and-9, quarterback Brett Hundley zipped the ball to Payton, who shook off a defensive back and took off for a 35-yard reception. With a fresh set of downs, the team had enough time to run down the clock and escape its season opener unscathed.

Payton even came up big while dinged up. Early in the game, he had bruised his left hand on a facemask, and still had it wrapped on Monday morning.

“That’s my boy right there,” Hundley said. “He’ll come through in the clutch no matter what. He’s consistent. He’s a great receiver one-on-one — one of the best. I trust him; he trusts me.”

“Everyone’s telling me it was a nice catch, but it’s just something you’re supposed to do,” Payton said. “It’s a pass-catch thing. To me, it was just another day out there catching passes. … I knew where it was going to be. I knew where he was throwing it.”

Though he started 10 games as a sophomore, the former four-star recruit had never put up eye-popping numbers. He still only has two touchdown catches at UCLA — one each in 2012 and 2013. Last season, he finished third on the team with 38 catches and 440 yards.

“I’ve been doing it for a minute now, so I feel like it’s a little overdue,” he said of his career day. “Now it’s just being the older guy in the group, the veteran — just going, instead of thinking. Just playing, being in that game.”