Colin Goodfellow out for season, gives all fan donations to charity
As expected, Colin Goodfellow’s game-saving play vs. Missouri was his last of the season. At today’s press conference, Mark Stoops confirmed that Goodfellow is out for the year after being hit by Missouri’s Will Norris while kicking away a botched snap in the fourth quarter in Columbia. Norris was called for roughing the punter, which gave Kentucky the first down it needed to extend the drive. After spending several minutes on the field, Goodfellow was carted off.
“Feel very bad for Colin, as he made a tremendous play for us at that moment,” Stoops said. “But unfortunately, he took a serious injury and will be out the remainder of the season. So, he made a great play and sacrifice for the team. Unfortunately, he is done and hurt seriously. So, we’ll continue to get more tests and other evaluations on him today.”
Prior to sharing the news on Goodfellow, Stoops addressed the botched snap, one of several special teams miscues on Saturday.
“The snaps, the missed field goals are not okay. We clearly will continue to work on that. We used two snappers in that game. Clay [Perry] has been doing all the punts because Cade [Degraw] had a leg injury and was not able to run very well but Clay’s been doing a great job. That’s actually the first bad snap Clay’s had all year so everybody assumes the other one was actually Cade. So Cade has had one bad snap all year, and Clay has had one bad snap all year. So, we have confidence in both of those guys and will continue to work on it.”
With Goodfellow out, redshirt freshman Wilson Berry will start at punter. The Aussie native had one punt for 35 yards vs. Missouri and four punts for 148 yards in two games played last season.
Stoops responds to Drinkwitz’s criticism of call
Because Goodfellow managed to get the punt off inside the tackle box, he was protected, leading to the roughing the punter penalty. After the game, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz complained about the call in his press conference, arguing that punters shouldn’t be protected so far down the field.
“How a guy can still be a protected punter 50 yards down the field and how our guy is supposed to know he can’t tackle him is beyond me. But I’m sure I’ll get an explanation and I’m sure it will defend (the referees).”
“They’re rewarded for a huge mistake,” Drinkwitz added. “The young man was able to kick the ball, at least give us the ball at the 30. But they snap the ball over his head and they rewarded them with a first down.”
Stoops was asked about Drinkwitz’s comments today. He gave some clarity to the rules, pointing out that if Goodfellow had pulled the ball down and run it outside the tackle box like an Aussie kicker, he would not have been protected.
“Here’s what I think he was referring to and he knows this and understands that too, when you have rugby [style kickers], like Max [Duffy] last year and Aussies, if you’re rolling, you are not protected. That’s clear. So, in our rules, it protects American punters, so to speak. If you’re rolling — because you can run it. You see it all the time on rugby guys. If they’re not attacking you and they feel that, they can pull it down and run. So they’re not protected. You can tackle them or you could rough them because you don’t know if they’re a runner or a kicker.
“We were fortunate in that it went directly back. I’ll be the first to admit that. And Colin made one heck of a play. But he was clearly in the tackle box. We were fortunate.”
Goodfellow plans to give all fan donations to charity
The Big Blue Nation rushed to reward Goodfellow for his sacrifice on Saturday. Goodfellow’s Venmo handle made the rounds on social media, leading to an influx of donations from fans. NIL rules for this scenario are unclear, but Goodfellow is working with UK’s compliance office to donate all of the money to the charity fund he and kicker Matt Ruffolo set up for the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. Since Saturday, the fund has grown by at least $2,000 to $3,800.
“Woke up today feeling grateful for my teammates, coaches, our medical staff, and the outpouring support from you, #BBN,” Goodfellow tweeted on Sunday. “I cannot thank you enough!”
Goodfellow shared the link to the charity along with the link to purchase his Fanatics Kentucky Football sweatshirt.
“Thank you so much for your support and making it known that I have another whole family here in Lexington and in BBN around the country! Love y’all!”
“It doesn’t surprise me from the fanbase and that’s awesome,” Stoops said today when asked about the fan donations. “It’s wonderful. Our players do a lot without fanfare or notice, but in this case, obviously drew some attention to himself making a very good play but unfortunately getting hurt so as always, we thank everybody for their support and put it to good use for a charity.”
As a fan pointed out on Twitter, there could even be a cool NIL deal in the works if a Lexington restaurant wants to get on board.
For he’s a jolly Goodfellow, for he’s a jolly Goodfellow…
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