Kentucky football linebacker D’Eryk Jackson out for rest of the season with injury

Kentucky football was down seven normal starters for its 48-6 blowout of FCS Murray State on Saturday, but UK coach Mark Stoops expects to be closer to full strength for next week’s game at No. 3 Texas.

One player who will not make that trip is linebacker D’Eryk Jackson. Stoops confirmed Jackson is out for the rest of the season with an undisclosed injury suffered three weeks ago against Auburn.

With Jackson sidelined, Alex Afari started at weakside linebacker for the second straight game. Jamon Dumas-Johnson, the normal starter at the other inside linebacker position, was also unavailable against Murray State but is expected to play at Texas.

Redshirt freshman Grant Godfrey started in place of Dumas-Johnson on Saturday.

“I thought it was really a big game for Alex Afari in the sense that, like, he got to take, ‘Hey, this is sort of my defense,’” defensive coordinator Brad White said. “I say my in the terms of, hey, listen, you’re that seasoned inside linebacker in this game. You’re walking in, hey, Grant’s going to look to you to be the communicator, to be able to anchor in. I thought Alex played a really good game today, and obviously we’ll need that.”

Afari finished the game with four tackles and half a tackle for loss but barely played in the second half as coaches tried to find snaps for young backups. Godfrey added three tackles.

With Jackson out and linebacker Daveren Rayner, who opened the season as the third inside linebacker, redshirting, Godfrey, sophomore Jayvant Brown and freshman Antwan Smith will need to provide depth behind Afari and Dumas-Johnson in the final two regular-season games.

“This game was so huge for Grant to gain that experience,” White said. “For Jayvant to get those snaps, for even Antwan Smith, to get those snaps, just because you never know what’s going to happen in the last two.”

The other normal starters unavailable against Murray State were right tackle Gerald Mincey, wide receiver Barion Brown, defensive tackle Deone Walker and outside linebacker J.J. Weaver.

“We were able to play this game without playing guys at 50, 60%, 70%, trying to get out there and play,” Stoops said. “Anybody that was totally clear to play played, but if they weren’t cleared and ready, then we didn’t play them. So hopefully that’ll help us down the stretch with two big games.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 6:14 PM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription