Mark Stoops Provides Final Injury Update Ahead of Tennessee

Mark Stoops met with the media for one final 10-minute chit-chat ahead of Kentucky’s Saturday night rendezvous with the Tennessee Volunteers. He provided an injury update, kind of, sort of, in a way.

Of course, folks are still curious about Chris Rodriguez‘s “issue.” Stoops did not elaborate further about last week’s problem, but said the Kentucky running back did participate in every rep of every practice ahead of the Tennessee game.

“I said it time and time again, I don’t need to make an excuse for Chris Rodriguez. He’s a very good football player and we’re not making excuses,” Stoops said. “He was not at 100 percent. I mean, I said it four times. He’s practiced everyday, every rep this week. That generally carries over to the game. He was not able to do that a week ago. Again, I’m not making an excuse for him. He wasn’t 100 percent, he wasn’t himself. I think he’ll be fine.”

Aside from C-Rod, Stoops was unwilling to share more. He was asked directly about Marquan McCall, providing a “we’ll see.” Later on he was pressed about Jordan Wright and JuTahn McClain, but once again opted not to answer the question.

“I’m not gonna address that at this time… Tell Josh (Heupel) to give me his injury report,” he laughed.

There will certainly be some significant players absent from the lineup Saturday night. The Wildcats are banged up. In order to bounce back, the healthy, experienced leaders must have the team all speaking the same language.

“We need our leaders to step up,” Stoops said. “We’ve challenged them, I’ve challenged them. They know that they have to lead right now. I feel like they have but we’re not there yet.”