Kentucky Football Injury News – A Sea Of Blue

With less than two weeks to go, the Kentucky Wildcats were hoping to enter the new season fully healthy. However, that is not the case as injuries occurred in a few practice games leading up to the first game of the year.

Mark Stoops says they didn't suffer any injuries in Saturday's practice game, but they did suffer several in the week before. Stoops opted for a shorter practice game and also let the younger players play more often last weekend.

“It looks like we came out of this pretty clean, which was important,” Stoops said Saturday. “I feel good about where we are. Last week when I spoke to you, I said I thought we came out of that practice game unscathed, but that wasn't really the case.”

“After that, we noticed a few things. Two guys who will be out for quite a while were important to us. But other than that, just bumps and bruises.”

One player who returned in the second practice game was DJ Waller Jr., who missed the first practice game due to a minor injury. Waller is battling to become the second starting boundary cornerback alongside Maxwell Hairston.

As for Kentucky's injuries, Ohio State running back Chip Trayanum will be out for an extended period of time. He broke his hand in practice and is expected to miss at least Week 1 against Southern Miss.

Another player Stoops thought could make an impact this year was true freshman wide receiver Hardley Gilmore. He is expected to miss part of the season due to a collarbone injury, but hopes to return around midseason. He will likely be redshirted and could potentially play in the final four games of the season.

“Hardley will be out for quite some time,” Stoops said. “It will be at least until mid-season or longer.”

Kentucky had some positive news at Tuesday's practice about the return of left tackle Marques Cox. He was briefly sidelined due to an injury but is now back in training.

With less than two weeks until the season, it's almost time to play some football in the Bluegrass!