Injury Report: Stoops on Jacquez Jones, JJ Weaver, Will Levis

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OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 01: Kentucky linebacker Jacquez Jones (10) is helped off the filed after being injured during the college football game between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Ole' Miss Rebels on October 01, 2022, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, — (Photo by Kevin Langley/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Week 6 depth chart didn’t reveal anything about Kentucky’s injured players and Mark Stoops was similarly tight-lipped during today’s press conference. Stoops said that inside linebacker Jacquez Jones is “banged up” after suffering a foot injury at Ole Miss and outside linebacker JJ Weaver may return vs. South Carolina as he recovers from the elbow injury suffered vs. Youngstown State.

“Getting better,” Stoops said of Weaver. “Chance is we’ll see him [vs. South Carolina].”

Will Levis dislocated a finger on his non-throwing hand during a safety in the second quarter vs. the Rebels, but popped it back into place and returned.

“It’s fine,” Stoops said of Levis’ finger today. “I don’t know, how would your finger be if it was sideways and they put it back in, know what I mean? It doesn’t need surgery, let’s put it that way so that’s a great thing.”

Defensive lineman Josiah Hayes did not play vs. Ole Miss. Stoops said “we’ll see” when asked about his status this week. Stoops was not asked about junior offensive tackle Jeremy Flax, who went down with what appeared to be a leg cramp on Kentucky’s final drive of the game, but did compliment his play before the injury.

“It’s a shame Flaxie went down later because I thought he was physical as heck. He was starting to really move people and play hard. I think that was coming together.”

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While discussing the kicking game, Stoops said he believes Kentucky’s long snapping issues are partially due to injuries.

“We’ve got a team that’s banged up,” Stoops said. “Need to get healed.”

Scoop Lemond hearing Jones will be out vs. South Carolina, Weaver will return

Stoops didn’t share a lot, but Ryan Lemond did on this morning’s Kentucky Sports Radio. Scoop Lemond said he’s hearing Jones’ injury is so bad he’ll be out vs. South Carolina and “might” return by the end of the season. He also said Weaver will return this week, Flax is 50/50, and Kavosiey Smoke could miss the South Carolina game after suffering a concussion at Ole Miss.

While it will be big to get Weaver back, Lemond’s news on Jones is concerning. The former Ole Miss defender injured his foot while tackling Rebels running back Zach Evans with nine minutes to play in the first quarter. He came back in the game and got a key interception to prevent the Rebels from scoring before halftime, but in the third quarter, went down again and had to be helped off the field. He was spotted on crutches on the sideline in the fourth quarter. Through five games, Jones has 31 total tackles (13 solo), 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and one interception.

After the game, Jones tweeted these messages to his followers, vowing to return.