Mark Stoops provides injury updates ahead of 2022 Kentucky football season

The Kentucky football team is opening the season with a relatively clean bill of health. Mark Stoops arrived at the Kroger Field media room after the first practice without a lengthy injury report.

Before we get to the good news, the bad news. Reserve offensive tackle Josh Jones will undergo season-ending surgery. A 6-foot-6, 325-pound athlete, Jones was a three-star recruit when he signed with the Cats in 2020 out of Phenix City Central. A redshirt freshman, he has not logged significant minutes at UK, but it does take away depth at left tackle, a position with plenty of question marks entering the 2022 season.

Elsewhere, the rest of the Cats that missed minutes recently are good to go. Izayah Cummings was injured in the Governor’s Cup and did not participate in spring practice. On day one the Louisville Male product caught Stoops’ eye. Another player people forget about is Dekel Crowdus. The highly-touted Lexington Frederick Douglass product did not make his debut last year for the Wildcats. Kentucky’s head coach is happy to have the speedy wide receiver healthy, back in the rotation.

Early Kentucky Football Omission

Not all of Kentucky’s 2022 football recruiting class has made it to campus. Mark Stoops did not specify who is absent, however, it’s likely Quentel Jones. The Georgia defensive lineman is on UK’s roster, but he was arrested May 31 on battery charges in connection to a murder investigation.

The one player on the front of every Kentucky football fan’s mind is Chris Rodriguez. Similar to SEC Media Days, Mark Stoops provided no comment on the Kentucky running back’s situation.