JJ Weaver hurting ankle on massive play added injury to insult vs. Auburn

A lot of bad things happened during Kentucky’s 24-10 loss to Auburn, but one of the most unfortunate was outside linebacker JJ Weaver suffering an injury on the final play of the first half. Weaver sacked Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne on 3rd-and-5 at the Kentucky 21-yard line with seven seconds left. Even though he was hurt, Weaver quickly limped back to the line of scrimmage as the Tigers scrambled to get a field-goal attempt off in time. They did not, leaving the score tied at 10, but it was the final time we’d see the senior captain in action Saturday night.

Weaver walked back to the locker room with the help of trainers. He eventually returned to the sideline in the second half wearing a boot. After the game, Mark Stoops confirmed the injury was to Weaver’s ankle and praised him for his toughness and awareness.

“That was a very big play for him to limp over and we were yelling at him too. Players have a lot on their plate and they are out there playing hard and he gets a sack and he’s injured but the awareness that they are out of timeouts but it doesn’t always happen that way and it was huge that he got back and got lined up and the time expired.”

Not a good sight at the end of the half, JJ Weaver injured on a sack he forced.

Auburn ran out of time and couldn’t get a field goal off, huge play to keep a 10-10 tie into halftime but a huge loss as the super senior captain is helped off the field. #BBN @FOX56News pic.twitter.com/zQuQZOp655

— Michael Epps (@MichaelEppsTV) October 27, 2024

Weaver wasn’t the only injured Cat tonight. Sophomore defensive back DJ Waller Jr. also left the game with an injury on Auburn’s first drive of the third quarter. He totaled four tackles, two solo, and a pass breakup. Without Weaver and Waller, Kentucky’s defense really struggled in the second half, which Stoops said was in part due to all the injuries his unit is facing. Also out on defense: star defensive back Maxwell Hairston, linebacker Jayvant Brown, defensive lineman Darrion Henry-Young, defensive back Jantzen Dunn, defensive lineman Josiah Hayes, and defensive lineman Tavion Gadson.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Stoops said when asked if the offense’s struggles were starting to impact the defense’s mindset. “I think we are more affected by the bodies that we have and the health that we are in. You know, I don’t want to sit here and make excuses. It’s real life and everybody in this league is probably beat up right now and I have to do a better job of making sure we have the depth that we need to compete.”

On offense, Kentucky was without offensive lineman Gerald Mincey and running backs Demie Sumo-Karngbaye and Chip Trayanum. When asked by Tom Leach, Stoops did not have an update on when Sumo-Karngbaye would be back. Freshmen Jamarion Wilcox and Jason Patterson carried the load in the backfield, with Wilcox finishing with seven carries for 25 yards and a touchdown and Patterson six carries for 38 yards. Stoops said Auburn’s defensive front made it difficult for Kentucky to do much more.

“It’s just you’re playing two freshmen who are inexperienced and haven’t been through as much,” he said of Wilcox and Patterson. “They’re great young men. I think they do some good things. We just, again, I think that definitely, you look at them up front, and I thought they handled us. They brought a lot of pressure. They put tight coverage. They weren’t giving us anything easy.”