J.J. Weaver Preparing for One Final Shining Moment vs. Louisville

There’s just something about the Louisville game. When J.J. Weaver sees red, the Kentucky EDGE plays his best football. He’s got 60 more minutes to be at his best for the Wildcats.

“This is always one of my best games. It’s exciting,” Weaver said earlier this week. “We got the whole city coming, so it’s exciting. I love it.”

Born in Broward County, Florida, Weaver spent his formative years in the city of Louisville. A standout at Moore High School, Weaver found himself in the middle of a contentious recruiting battle between Kentucky and his hometown school, which was in the middle of a coaching change. Ultimately, he turned down the chance to be in Scott Satterfield’s first recruiting class and has been haunting the Cards ever since.

Appearing in just three games as a true freshman in 2019, he recorded a pass deflection in a rainy win over Louisville. Two years later, Weaver cranked it up a notch by picking off a pass. He participated in Senior Day ahead of the 2022 matchup and recorded 7 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

That wasn’t his best performance vs the Cards. Last year he received the Howard Schnellenberger Award as the MVP of the Governor’s Cup. Weaver had 8 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries in the shocking 38-31 win over the ninth-ranked Cards.

In four games vs. Louisville, Weaver has 16 tackles, 2.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, a pass deflection, and an interception. Weaver is 4-0 against Louisville, winning by a combined score of 161-78.

J.J. Weaver changed the game pic.twitter.com/lU4IBKOzon

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 26, 2023

Why is Weaver so dominant against the Cards? He can’t explain it either.

“I don’t know. There’s just something about Louisville. Having everybody come and support and that home feeling, the home love is a different type of feeling.”

Like many who grew up in the city of Louisville, his family is filled with Cats and Cards fans. Verbal barbs have been thrown at Thanksgiving celebrations over the last six years. Some family members haven’t been too happy with J.J. and that’s the way he likes it.

“It means the world to me,” Weaver said of the rivalry. “We lose? Knock on wood. We’ve gotta hear about it for the next 365 days. We’d have to sit on it for a year. We don’t want to have that bad taste in our mouth the whole year. So we gotta beat them boys. If we win this, we’re undefeated, that’s how I’d describe it to ’em. If we win this game, we’re still undefeated.”

Weaver has left an indelible mark on the Governor’s Cup. On Saturday he gets to write the final chapter of his story as a Kentucky Wildcat.

“I gotta make it special.”

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