Eli Cox, Octavious Oxendine make Comeback Player of the Year Watch List

Two Kentucky Wildcats are being recognized for how they bounced back from adversity. Junior center Eli Cox and junior defensive lineman Octavious Oxendine are on the watch list for the 2022 Comeback Player of the Year Award, given annually by the College Sports Communicators in association with The Associated Press (AP) and the Fiesta Bowl Organization. The award recognizes college football players from all divisions for overcoming injury, illness, or other circumstances.

Last season, Cox started nine games at right guard before suffering a hand injury vs. Tennessee. The injury, which required surgery, was diagnosed as a torn flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendon in his left little finger. The recovery process took approximately 14 weeks before he could use his hand again.

“[Eli] puts a lot of force through his fingers. He is like a force of nature in terms of the amount he is generating through the flexor tendons of his fingers,” said Dr. Chase Kluemper, an orthopaedic surgeon at the UK HealthCare Hand Center. “There are two tendons that flex the finger and they curl the finger down into the palm. He ripped one of them off the bone, and it takes a significant amount of force to do that.”

Oxendine was in the midst of a breakout sophomore season when he tore and flipped the lateral meniscus in his right knee during the fourth quarter of the LSU game. Prior to the injury, he had three tackles, including the first two quarterback sacks of his career, good for 16 yards of loss, a performance that won him SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week. After surgery and a rigorous rehabilitation process., Oxendine dropped more than 30 pounds in the offseason to improve his explosiveness. He has started in five of six games this season and has 14 tackles and two quarterback hurries.

Previous Comeback Players of the Year

If Cox and/or Oxendine win the Comeback Player of the Year award, it will be the third for the Kentucky Football program in as many years. Last year, J.J. Weaver took home the honor and Kenneth Horsey won it in 2020.

• 2018 – Antwan Dixon (Kent State), Seth Simmer (Dartmouth); Antonio Wimbush (Carson-Newman)
• 2019 – Jake Luton (Oregon State); Drew Wilson (Georgia Southern); Octavion Wilson (Salisbury)
• 2020 – Jarek Broussard (Colorado); Kenneth Horsey (Kentucky); Silas Kelly (Coastal Carolina)
• 2021 – Aidan Hutchinson (Michigan); McKenzie Milton (Florida State); J.J. Weaver (Kentucky)