Mark Stoops announces Kentucky OT Nik Hall out for 2023 season with injury

Kentucky just lost some of its offensive line depth. On Friday, UK head football coach Mark Stoops spoke to media to recap initial preseason practices for Kentucky Football Media Day. While it’s usually a time for great optimism, sometimes there are major injuries that pop up, which was the case this week. According to KSR’s Nick Roush, the Wildcats won’t have redshirt freshman offensive tackle Nik Hall available this year, as he will take a medical redshirt due to an injury.

Per Roush, here was Stoops’ comment on the matter at media day:

“Nik had an injury and I think he is going to have to take a medical redshirt. There’s another tackle there that had some promise but had an injury and is going to have a hard time coming back.”

More tough luck on the injury front for the Wildcats and at a position where they faced a slew of injuries last year as well. Luckily, Stoops and co. hit the transfer portal pretty hard for more tackles this offseason, but regardless, this injury will still be a big blow to the offensive line depth in Lexington.

More on Hall, other OT options

Via KSR’s Nick Roush

Hall was initially injured and sidelined for the duration of spring practice. It’s unclear if he re-aggravated that existing injury, or suffered another setback.

When asked for clarity, the Kentucky head coach said Hall is still being evaluated. Even if he is able to recover, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the high school All-American is an impactful piece of the rotation in 2023.

The 6-foot-6, 315-pound second-year offensive tackle is the son of former UK great, Antonio Hall. The younger Hall played high school football in Austin, Texas where he drew recruiting attention on a national scale. Nik Hall was the 15th-ranked offensive tackle and the No. 193 overall player in the class of 2022, according to On3.

Offensive tackle play was a clear weakness on the 2022 Kentucky football team. The Wildcats brought in multiple transfers to remedy the situation — namely Marques Cox and Courtland Ford — but the depth concerns remain, especially with Nik Hall on the sidelines.