KSR Today: Bye week injury updates

Good morning, folks! We’re in the middle of a bye week as Mark Stoops and Kentucky football rest and recover from last weekend’s thriller in Oxford. The Wildcats enter the bye with a 3-2 record (1-2 SEC), which is right at what most fans predicted. However, there is much more positive momentum than expected.

With the bye week comes a lack of press conferences. Normally, we hear from Bush Hamdan, Brad White, and several players throughout the week. Not this time around. It’s only Stoops this week, who finished off his media responsibilities after Wednesday’s practice. The head coach was in a good mood coming off Saturday’s win over the Rebels.

“Obviously it’s been a beautiful week of weather, so it’s been nice. Guys are in good spirits,” Stoops said. “It’s been really good to get our players a bit of rest. Had a little bit lighter Monday and Tuesday, had a good workload today. Monday we worked some of the guys that hadn’t gotten as many snaps as the 1s… Gave our guys yesterday off and today we had a good physical day today and we’ll have a good practice tomorrow.”

Stoops had plenty else to say throughout his 12-minute press conference. Most importantly, he touched on a couple of important injury updates. You can get up to date on the status of those Wildcats below before diving into the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

Maxwell Hairston injury update

During his post-practice press conference on Wednesday, Stoops was asked about the status of starting defensive back Maxwell Hairston, who has been dealing with a shoulder injury since the Georgia game. It felt like he was nearing full health going into the Ole Miss matchup, only for his name to pop up on the injury report a couple of days prior. While Hairston is trending in the right direction, Stoops was clear that he remains out.

“He’s doing better. He’s recovering and he’s doing better,” Stoops, who caught himself before saying anything else, told reporters. “He’ll be out.”

Kentucky’s defense shut down Ole Miss’ high-powered offense without Hairston, but he’s still a vital piece to the operation in the secondary. The ‘Cats will need him back at some point this season to help win big-time football games. True freshman Terhyon Nichols, who suffered a shoulder injury of his own against Ole Miss, has filled the void nicely for the time being.

What about Chip Trayanum?

I’m glad you asked. Stoops also touched on the status of transfer running back Chip Trayanum, who has yet to play a game this season due to a broken hand. Rumors have swirled in recent weeks about the possibility of him not even playing a game this season. While nothing of the sort has been confirmed at this moment, don’t expect to see Trayanum suiting up in the near future.

“No. I don’t have any update on Chip at this point. I don’t have to give you anything this week,” Stoops joked. “No, I don’t have any update on that.”

Without Trayanum, Kentucky will continue to rely on Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, Jamarion Wilcox, and true freshman Jason Patterson in the backfield. So far, that’s a stable of backs proven capable of succeeding.

11 Personnel isn’t on a bye week

Just because Kentucky has the week off doesn’t mean the guys at 11 Personnel do too. KSR’s Nick Roush and Adam Luckett continue to pump out pigskin content all day long. In this week’s episode, they covered all of the small details from the win over Ole Miss and put on their scouting hats to break down the commitment of three-star OL Jayden Clark. Luckett also has a Film Room article here that goes even further in-depth on what Clark will bring to the Big Blue Wall

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Kentucky Sports Radio has teamed up with Louisville City and Racing Louisville to provide you discounted tickets in 2024! Both clubs play at beautiful Lynn Family Stadium, the perfect place to spend an evening while the Cats aren’t in action.

LouCity is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, while Racing is the city’s only top-tier pro sports team newly featuring UK Hall of Famer Arin (Gilliand) Wright. Take advantage of those special discounted tickets for KSR fans.

Volleyball picks up 5-set win over Oklahoma

Coming off an important win over No. 18 Florida on Sunday, Kentucky volleyball capitalized with another win on Wednesday night at home. The No. 13-ranked Wildcats took down Oklahoma in five sets (25-21, 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-13) despite going into a 2-1 set deficit early on. It was the first time UK overcame a 2-1 hole all season.

Outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye led the way with 25 kills as the star sophomore continues her impressive season. Six of those kills came in the fifth set. Senior All-American setter Emma Grome contributed 41 assists while Molly Tuozzo and Eleanor Beavin combined for 24 digs and nine assists.

Kentucky moves to 8-6 on the season with a 2-1 mark in SEC play. Five of those six losses this season have come against Top 10 opponents. Up next is another home match at Memorial Coliseum when Missouri comes to town on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network.

KSR Game of the Week in Lexington

The seventh KSR Game of the Week of the season will be in central Kentucky for a Top 10 showdown between two powerhouses on Friday.

The No. 8 Frederick Douglass Broncos (3-2) will host the No. 3 Male Bulldogs (4-1) in Lexington under the lights with a 7:30 p.m. EST kickoff time tomorrow night. This will be the first-ever matchup between these two schools, according to Rieherds. Both sides feature multiple future college football players, namely four-star Kentucky EDGE commit Cedric Works (Frederick Douglass) and three-star NC State OL commit Isaac Sowells Jr. (Male).

Looking at On3’s Massey Ratings score predictions, Frederick Douglass is projected to win 34-27 with a 61 percent chance of pulling off the victory. We’re expecting a close one from start to finish. KSR will have several boots on the ground Friday night to cover all the action. For an in-depth preview of the matchup, click here.

KSR’s Ole Miss Road Trip

I’ll leave you with this video from KSR’s Steven Peake, who did an excellent production job to give us an inside look at what it was like in and around Vaught-Hemingway Stadium before, during, and after Kentucky’s 20-17 win over Ole Miss. Those Rebel tears may be salty but they sure are delicious.

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