Kentucky freshman Nik Scalzo to undergo second knee surgery in less than a year

University of Kentucky football player Nik Scalzo, who suffered a right knee injury over the weekend, will undergo surgery next week.

Scalzo tore the ACL in his right knee — the same knee in which he tore his ACL in November during his final high school football season — after planting and cutting on a non-contact play in an intrasquad scrimmage Saturday. His leg gave out.

“I’m disappointed for him,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said. “He’s worked extremely hard to come back as fast as he did from the first surgery, to be cleared and get out here to participate. He was doing a heck of a job and I really feel for him. That’s a hard surgery to recover from. He did it once and he’ll have to do it again, but I’m certain that he’ll be back at full strength.”

Scalzo, a true freshman, is one of five scholarship quarterbacks on UK’s roster along with junior Terry Wilson, graduate transfer Sawyer Smith, sophomore Walker Wood and fellow true freshman Amani Gilmore. Walk-on Kolbe Langhi is a sophomore.

This story was originally published August 20, 2019 at 3:29 PM.