DJ Waller, Judge Collier injury update: Kentucky, South Carolina reveal status of key players on Thursday report

The updated injury report for a Week 5 SEC contest between South Carolina and Kentucky has been released on Thursday. Cornerbacks DJ Waller (Kentucky) and Judge Collier (South Carolina) are two of the key players listed. Both Waller and Collier have not played since their teams respective season openers.

Collier however made his return to practice this week, coach Shane Beamer revealed Tuesday. He was listed as questionable for the contest against the Wildcats, while Waller remains doubtful. You can check out the full injury report for both teams below.

Kentucky Wildcats

WR Preston Bowman – OUT
TE Elijah Brown – OUT
QB Zach Calzada – QUESTIONABLE
OL Aba Selm – QUESTIONABLE
DL Nic Smith – OUT
DB DJ Waller Jr. – OUT
WR David Washington Jr. – OUT
RB Jamarion Wilcox – OUT

South Carolina Gamecocks

DL Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy – PROBABLE
DB Judge Collier – PROBABLE
OL Nolan Hay – OUT
OL Cason Henry – OUT
DB Buddy Mack III – DOUBTFUL

Collier, tight end Mike Smith, and safety DQ Smith all missed the Gamecocks’ 29-20 loss to Missouri last week. Beamer addressed the health of his group as a whole on Tuesday. 

“Injury-wise, we’ll have a report for you tomorrow night, nobody that we’d say right now is out,” Beamer said Tuesday. “It was good to see Judge Collier back at practice today, hopefully he will continue to trend in the right direction, and see where guys are tomorrow night when we release that availability report.”

Kentucky is coming off of a bye week that allowed it the opportunity to rest up and get closer to full health. Wildcats players who were dealing with injury include defensive back Tehryon Nichols and running back Dante Dowdell. Coach Mark Stoops said he did not expect any of those injuries to be long-term.

Kentucky and South Carolina are seeking first SEC win

Since this is an SEC matchup, South Carolina and Kentucky will both release availability reports throughout the week. In addition to Thursday’s injury report, there will be a report released on Friday, then one final report that comes out 90 minutes before kickoff. 

South Carolina (2-2, 0-2 SEC) enters this week in desperate need of a victory after dropping back-to-back games against Vanderbilt and Missouri. Kentucky (2-1, 0-1), on the other hand narrowly lost 20-13 against Ole Miss in Week 2 before bouncing back with a 48-23 victory against Eastern Michigan in Week 3. 

South Carolina owns a 21-14-1 all-time advantage in the series against Kentucky, including winning the past three matchups. Last season they handed the Wildcats a 31-6 loss. 

The Gamecocks will hope for similar results this time around and are a 5.5-point favorites according to BetMGM. All that in mind, the injury report will be worth monitoring closely throughout this week before the game kicks off at 7:45 p.m. ET in Columbia on Saturday.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this injury report.