INJURY UPDATES: Chip Trayanum Suffered Setback, Gilmore Eyes Return

Things got a little weird on the injury front before Kentucky played Ole Miss. Mark Stoops reported on Monday that Chip Trayanum was cleared to return to practice. By Thursday, he was ruled out. A day later, Maxwell Hairston was unexpectedly sidelined.

The Kentucky head coach did not use the depth chart to provide clarity on various injuries. He is waiting to share official designations for Wednesday night’s official availability report. We did get a little bit of catnip on Monday at his weekly press conference.

When asked directly about Hairston, who appeared on the depth chart, Stoops responded, “I’ll update that later in the week.”

He provided a few more details about Trayanum when the head coach was asked if there’s a chance we will see the running back at all this fall.

“Without getting into the weeds on it, we had a setback in what he had originally, so we will see where that goes,” said Stoops.

We also received a “we’ll see” on cornerback Terhyon Nichols. The true freshman dislocated his shoulder after breaking up a pass to Tre Harris. The bye week came at the right time for the cornerback. We’ll learn if he’s close to play on Wednesday.

True Freshman Hardley Gilmore Could Play Soon

In 13 seasons on the Kentucky football beat, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a coach share more effusive praise for a freshman football player than what Bush Hamdan had to say about wide receiver Hardley Gilmore.

“He is in my opinion as complete of a young receiver as I’ve been around,” Hamdan said in August. “He’s got top-end speed, he’s a good route-runner, he’s tough, he’s physical. There’s a lot of things there. Every once in a while you get these freshmen where they don’t even recognize the lights. They don’t know if it’s big lights, small lights, they don’t know what it is. They’re just excited to be in the SEC at a place like Kentucky playing for Coach Stoops and he kinda had that vibe. There’s no, ‘I gotta save myself for a long year.’ He knew one speed.

“If we can get him healthy and can consistently take that mindset, I think the world of Hardley Gilmore.”

It looks like he’s getting healthy in time for the final seven games of the season. Gilmore broke his collarbone during a preseason scrimmage. Last week Kentucky shared a photo of No. 17 practicing in full pads. Stoops did not state whether or not Gilmore will be ready, but they aren’t going to sit the freshman on the shelf just to try to preserve a redshirt season.

“If he’s good enough to play and he can help us, we’ll play him. We’ll see how that goes,” said Stoops.