Kerr Kriisa held out of Blue-White Game due to tweaked hamstring

Kerr Kriisa is upset over NIL and refuses to play for Kentucky until his money is settled.

“We’re in contract renegotiations,” Mark Pope said following the Blue-White Preseason Event. “He’s holding out.”

Really? This NIL stuff has ruined college — “I’m just kidding, he’s not,” Pope quickly added, knowing his words were getting chopped and spliced into clips ready to go nuclear on the internet.

No, no, no. Nothing to worry about. Yes, Kerr Kriisa missed the intrasquad scrimmage inside Historic Memorial Coliseum, but there is no drama surrounding the West Virginia transfer. No NIL issues or serious injury keeping him out of the lineup weeks or months or the entire year.

And yes, Mark Pope has, in fact, seen him.

Kriisa was simply held out of the Blue-White Game for precautionary reasons after the fifth-year senior tweaked his hamstring earlier in the week.

“We actually finished our practice a couple of days ago with some heavy conditioning and he tweaked his hamstring,” Pope said Friday evening. “It’s not even a strain. It was just a precaution tonight.”

In his place, Travis Perry started at point guard for the Blue team, finishing with six points and four assists in 36 minutes. He guarded Collin Chandler on the White squad while Jaxson Robinson went head-to-head with Lamont Butler on the Blue and White, respectively. Walk-ons Grant Darbyshire, Walker Horn and Zach Tow combined for 12 minutes to give the rotation guards a breather with Kriisa in street clothes and sandals.

No official word on the West Virginia transfer’s status ahead of Kentucky’s exhibition matchup vs. Kentucky Wesleyan on Wednesday, but it’s clear the hamstring issue isn’t a long-term concern for Pope.