UK star will play with bulky covering on broken hand. Will it slow him down?

It’s an apparatus made of mostly foam and tape that covers Kash Daniel’s broken left hand, on which he had a minor surgical procedure on Monday, but it looks slightly more ominous.

The Kentucky middle linebacker and leading tackler was back at practice by the middle of the week doing his best to adapt to the massive covering over his left hand that mainly serves as protection, but looks bulky.

“It’s different, a little heavy, a lot of sweat in here, but other than that, it’s still the same,” Daniel told the media of the injury he sustained late in the game against Vanderbilt. It takes about 20 minutes for trainers to cover the cast before he can practice or play.

Like previous injuries — he rattled off several previous ones including back pain, hip pointers and broken ribs — It hasn’t slowed him so far and likely won’t keep him out of the lineup at Missouri.

“He’s getting better with it,” defensive coordinator Matt House said of the club. “He still can play with all the other parts. He’s been working through it in practice. He’ll be fine.”

If Daniel struggles with it, his backup, true freshman Chris Oats, got some valuable playing experience a couple of weeks ago at Texas A&M when he subbed in for Daniel as the junior served a one-half suspension for targeting. On the season Oats has 11 tackles, including 1.5 for loss and a sack.