J.J. Weaver will miss the rest of Kentucky’s season. Who could fill in for him?
Ahead of the return of some key players following COVID-19 quarantine procedures, Kentucky has lost one of its rising stars for the remainder of the season due to an injury.
J.J. Weaver suffered an ACL injury during UK’s 34-10 loss at Florida. He shared the diagnosis Monday morning on Twitter.
Weaver, a four-star recruit out of Moore High School in Louisville, played some as a true freshman last season but became a key member of the Cats’ outside linebacker corps this year. Up until Saturday he was the immediate backup to junior Jordan Wright, whose availability for the Florida game was limited due to injury. Weaver posted a career-high six tackles against the Gators, and he finishes with 33 on the year.
ACL recoveries typically take six to nine months, meaning Weaver could return for the 2021 season if things go well. Head coach Mark Stoops expects that to be the case.
“We’re extremely disappointed for J.J.,” Stoops said Monday during his weekly news conference. “He was arguably playing as good as anybody on our team. … It’ll take some time but he’ll come back at full strength.”
Weaver’s father, Terrance, earlier this year was killed in a shooting in Albany, Ga. He reflected on that amid his current setback on Monday.
“Man I don’t even know where to start!” Weaver wrote on Twitter. “This year have been the hardest of my life (emojis) my father got killed and I just found out I have a tore ACL! They say, God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers. Happy 21 birthday To Me (emojis) #WatchMeShakeBack #LongliveMyPops.” (sic)
Weaver’s injury is the latest blow for the middle-four unit of Kentucky’s defense. Inside linebacker Chris Oats suffered an undisclosed injury this summer that necessitated a four-month stay in a rehab facility; he has not been with the team all season.
In the depth chart released Monday morning, Wright was listed as a possible starter at strongside linebacker along with a surprise name: Vito Tisdale, a true freshman who has played defensive back this season, was named on the depth chart with an “OR” designation.
Tisdale isn’t a stranger to the position; he has moonlighted there when the scheme calls for it.
“We call that a medium personnel, so it’s our base personnel calls with a defensive back in there,” Stoops said. “He’s been doing that, he can do that. He can run any call we have. (It’s) just with a defensive back rather than an outside backer. … With the injury to J.J., we can move Boogie (Watson) back over to Jack (linebacker) and play Vito at the Sam-Nickel.”
Redshirt freshman K.D. McDaniel, who has played sparingly in four games this year, jumps out as a guy who might see his role increase against South Carolina. He saw time against Vanderbilt and at Alabama but did not take the field against Florida. Following a practice last week, McDaniel was mentioned by Weaver as a teammate who has stood out behind the scenes lately.
True freshman Sam Anaele is an intriguing prospect — he’s 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds and runs a 4.9-second 40-yard dash — but the former four-star recruit has not yet taken the field in his first year on campus, indicating he’s not quite where he needs to be yet in terms of his development. If healthy, though, he might get some run if Kentucky is able to build a sizable lead against a short-handed South Carolina team on Saturday.
Chris Rodriguez, UK’s leading rusher, and starting tight end Justin Rigg were among a handful of players out for Kentucky the last two weeks due to COVID-19 policies. Both should be able to return for the Cats’ game against South Carolina this weekend.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 10:19 AM.
