Injury Report: JJ Weaver Doubtful, Ty Ajian Banged Up Ahead of Ole Miss

The Kentucky defense has taken some early lumps on the injury front. The Wildcats will not be at full strength when they travel to Ole Miss Saturday afternoon.

J.J. Weaver was absent on the Kentucky depth chart for the second straight week. Initially considered “week to week,” Monday afternoon Mark Stoops essentially ruled out the outside linebacker for the Ole Miss game. “It doesn’t look good for J.J. this week,” said the Wildcats’ head coach.

Weaver landed awkwardly on his left arm on the first drive against Youngstown State in week, causing his elbow to bend inward. He spent Saturday night on the Kroger Field sideline wearing a brace with his arm in a sling. The junior outside linebacker was leading the team in tackles with 15 when he suffered the injury.

Kentucky could really use Weaver against Ole Miss. The Wildcats put the clamps on Anthony Richardson when they had two healthy, experienced edge rushers. Jaxson Dart is not the same caliber quarterback, however, the Ole Miss offense has a potent rushing attack that uses misdirection to create big plays, whether it’s from a running back or the running quarterback. Keeping containment will be a challenge without Weaver available in Oxford.

Ty Ajian Dealing with Wrist Injury

One of Kentucky’s most experienced defenders did not play against Northern Illinois. Ty Ajian suffered a wrist injury in week 3, forcing him to wear a cast on his left hand. He was dressed and ready if needed, but was never called into action against the Huskies.

“Ty has got an injury that he’s dealing with and it was bothering him a little bit Saturday,” said Stoops. “Hopefully he’ll get back to full strength here this week.”

Zion Childress started in Ajian’s place and played a 63 snaps, tied for the most on the Kentucky defense. The Texas State transfer had four tackles, including one for a loss. Neither Childress or Jordan Lovett were starters when the season started, but injuries have forced them into early action.

“Zion showed some flashes, did some really good things and then had a few plays uncharacteristic of him where he had bad leverage and could have got them down on the 30 (yard line) on the one explosive play. There’s a couple plays he can play better,” said Stoops.

“Jordan’s doing some really good things. Some of this experience is invaluable to him, but there’s some things he’s seeing for the first time. You need to bank those reps and again, just play cleaner and learn from some of the things that are going on.”