JJ Weaver starts comeback year with two sacks

Kentucky linebacker JJ Weaver made a speedy recovery from an ACL injury to be ready for the first game of his sophomore season. Weaver suffered the injury in the second-to-last game of the 2020 season on November 28 of last year, and the timetable for an ACL comeback typically ranges from nine months to a year.

For him to dress and play meaningful minutes against ULM on Saturday was an impressive feat in itself.

His two sacks were almost superhuman.

“That lit us up,” Josh Paschal said of Weaver’s first sack. “He went through so much. He went through hell and back in the past year. To see he’s still standing and working as hard as ever, and seeing him reap what he sowed, I’m just so thankful to be his teammate and blessed to have him.”

Paschal can relate. The senior captain missed almost an entire season with malignant melanoma in 2018, only to return for a surprise start against Middle Tennessee State that year. At the time, Paschal’s teammates spoke of the spark his return gave them similar to how Weaver’s return impacted the defense against ULM.

Mark Stoops was also proud of Weaver’s remarkable comeback, so proud that he let Weaver talk him into playing more than Stoops wanted.

“I was trying to get him out of there and he talked me into another series,” Stoops said after the game. “It’s good for him just to kind of build his confidence. Through camp we were protective—he’s fully cleared—but I know from going through that, the more you play, you get more confidence the stronger your leg gets, and the more reps you get. That’s good for him.”

Weaver was an All-SEC freshman a season ago and off to a good start in Year 2.