Northern Illinois QB Rocky Lombardi suffers undisclosed injury

Kentucky could be facing a backup quarterback next week when the Northern Illinois Huskies make their way to Lexington.

Rocky Lombardi, a 5,000-yard quarterback with five years of experience, went down with an undisclosed leg injury in NIU’s 38-28 loss vs. Vanderbilt. He started the game 7/7 passing for 79 yards and a touchdown before going down midway through the second quarter.

At the time of the injury, the Huskies were tied with the Commodores 14-14.

From there, redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Hampton stepped in and put two scores on the board to put NIU up 28-14 to open the second half. Vanderbilt would then storm back to win 38-28, scoring 24 unanswered points to pull off the late comeback.

Hampton would finish the day 12/19 passing for 124 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

“I thought he (Hampton) handled it well,” Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock said after the loss. “I thought he was prepared and he’s taken a lot of snaps. Obviously he’s played just one game of football for us, but he came in and was able to execute the offense. But when your backup quarterback comes in, everybody else around him has to play better.”

Lombardi’s status going into the Kentucky game remains up in the air.

The Clive, IA native transferred from Michigan State in 2021, combining for 1,902 yards, 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in three years with the Spartans. He would go on to lead the Huskies to the 2021 MAC Championship his first year at NIU, earning fourth-team All-MAC honors after throwing for 2,597 yards, 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also ranked fourth on the team with 473 rushing yards on 94 carries, good for a 5.0-yard average.

Prior to injury, Lombardi had thrown for 530 yards, five touchdowns and just one interception in 2022.

As for Hampton, he saw action in just two games as a true freshman, including one unsuccessful start against Western Michigan in November where he finished the game 4-10 overall for 23 yards in a 42-21 loss.

Will the Elburn, IL native start for just the second time of his career at Kroger Field?