Justin Edwards plans to practice today, hoping to play against Tennessee

After suffering an injury during practice last week, Kentucky freshman Justin Edwards was limited to just nine minutes in the Wildcats’ road win over Arkansas last Saturday. He came off the bench for the first time all season against the Razorbacks, finishing with zero points, one rebound, and one assist.

On Wednesday, he (along with freshman point guard DJ Wagner) was surprisingly ruled out for the game against Florida right before tipoff. Head coach John Calipari has referred to Edwards’ injury as knee-related. But during Friday’s pre-Tennessee press conference, Edwards clarified that it’s his quad he’s rehabbing, with the incident occurring during a five-on-five scrimmage prior to the Arkansas game.

“My quad, I hurt my quad. We were playing five-on-five in practice,” Edwards told reporters.

That was one week ago now. While still not fully healthy, Edwards did say he’s on the path to making his return sooner rather than later. There’s a chance he will suit up against No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday night inside Rupp Arena.

“I feel better. I plan on practicing today, I’ve been doing recovery ever since I hurt it,” Edwards added. “So just taking it day-by-day and hopefully I’ll be able to play Saturday.”

Calipari has always said that his players won’t check into a game if they don’t practice in the days leading up. If Edwards does return to practice today, will that be enough for Calipari (or the team doctors, for that matter) to give him the all-clear? We likely won’t find out until Saturday afternoon ahead of the 8:30 p.m. EST tipoff.

Through 19 games this season (18 starts), Edwards is averaging 7.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field.

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