KSR Today: A Wild Range of Injury Emotions

Kentucky fans have gone through ups and downs amid injury unknowns over the last week. Seven days ago we discovered Will Levis was questionable, kicking off a back-and-forth game of uncertainty before he was ultimately ruled out against South Carolina. The coy games appear to be over. QB1 is back to practice, preparing to play against Mississippi State.

Meanwhile on the other end of campus, Oscar Tshiebwe has suffered a knee injury of his own. Instead of playing the “haven’t seen him” game, John Calipari got in front of it, sharing that Oscar will have a minor procedure after going through drills at pro day. The defending National Player of the Year should be fine in time for the start of the season, just “no dancing at Big Blue Madness.”

If you think you’ve got it bad, thank your lucky stars you aren’t a Kansas football fan. They’re good for the first time in 15 years. They earned the right to host College GameDay for the first time, then star quarterback Jalon Daniels suffered a shoulder injury. The Jayhawks almost defeated a Top 25 TCU team without him, but the fate of their season dramatically changes depending on his status. Head coach Lance Leipold said he’d miss at least a game, without providing many other details.

Zac Boyer, a former KU sports employee and current freelancer for the local newspaper, dropped a bomb that certainly wrecked the Jayhawk fanbase. He reported Daniels is finished for the season after suffering a grade 3 right shoulder separation. A few hours later, Daniels responded saying, “News to me.” The leader of the Lawrence Journal-World sports department made a statement back-pedaling from the report, then Leipold shared a haymaker of a Tweet.

Look who dropped by my office tonight! #RockChalk pic.twitter.com/m8zNl0LLXl

— Lance Leipold (@CoachLeipold) October 11, 2022

If you think you’ve gone through enough injury uncertainty heartache over the last week, it’s incomparable to the last 24 hours for Kansas football fans.

Outer Space Football Uniforms

Before getting into more Kentucky basketball and football news, I need to share another oddity from around the college football world. The Space Race is underway between teams, all racing to claim outer space for their respective institutions. After Purdue, Rice and Air Force took stabs at it, UCF went all in on these “SPACE” uniforms. It’s the kind of crazy move I’ve grown to expect from the Golden Knights. They’ll wear them Thursday night against Temple.

MISSION VI: Into the Darkness pic.twitter.com/bqNZkYlCs5

— Citronauts Football (@UCF_Football) October 11, 2022

Kentucky Football Offensive Updates

Will Levis was back at practice yesterday, throwing passes to Dane Key. The wide receiver is wearing a protective cast on his wrist during practice this week, but will be good to go Saturday. There’s still no official word on Tayvion Robinson or Jeremy Flax, potentially paving the way for Deondre Buford‘s second straight start at right tackle. Adam Luckett has more from Tuesday night practice.

Mark Stoops Introduces Chris Stapleton

After practice the Kentucky head football coach made his way to Rupp Arena for the star-studded Kentucky Rising concert benefit for Eastern Kentucky. Patty Loveless and Ricky Skaggs made surprise appearances, joining Tyler Childers, Dwight Yoakam and the man Stoops introduced, Chris Stapleton. “I’ve been here for 10 years and I’ve never felt more like a Kentuckian than I do tonight,” Stoops said.

.@UKCoachStoops comes out to introduce @ChrisStapleton. Says he’s never been more proud to be a Kentuckian. #KentuckyRising pic.twitter.com/iCEuUFKITu

— Chad Hedrick (@ChadHedrickWKYT) October 12, 2022

Big-Time Basketball Scholarship Offer

One of the most talented basketball players in America plays right down the road in Kokomo, In. Flory Bidunga is a 6-foot-9 center, ranked as the No. 3 player in the 2024 recruiting class and last night John Calipari and Orlando Antigua extended him a scholarship offer. Jack Pilgrim reports he plans on visiting Kentucky in the near future.

The development comes a week after a ton of picks rolled in for Bidunga to Cincinnati. The Bearcats recently hired Drew Miller as the associate AD for men’s basketball. His father is the director of Indiana Elite, the AAU program Bidunga plays for. It’s certainly something worth monitoring as Bidunga’s recruitment heats up. Jack Pilgrim discussed this development and so much more on Tuesday night’s edition of Sources Say.

Playoff Baseball

Trailing by four in the bottom of the 8th, the Houston Astros mounted an incredible comeback to win on a walk-off three run homer, courtesy of Yordan Alvarez. Before you check out the highlights, here’s today’s schedule of games.

• 4:35: Phillies at Braves on Fox (PHI leads 1-0)
• 8:37: Padres at Dodgers on FS1 (LA leads 1-0)

Here’s how the Yordan Alvarez WALKOFF sounded on SportsTalk790, as called by @raford3 & @SteveSparks37!! #Levelup #Legendary pic.twitter.com/WcyNY11pJI

— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) October 11, 2022

I’m Having a Baby, Maybe Right Now

Technically, my wife is the one having the baby (but we all know the guys do all of the hard work in the delivery room). She’s supposed to be pushing out our second child today, but the due date does not always mean that is when the baby arrives. Until that moment finally arrives, I’ll continue to anxiously scroll Twitter and blog to my heart’s content.