Weaver out with ACL injury; "It's very disappointing," Stoops says

(Photo: Instagram/@jjtimeee)

JJ Weaver’s season is over with an ACL injury suffered in the loss at Florida, the redshirt freshman’s first career start for the Kentucky defense. UK still hasn’t announced the injury as an ACL tear—Mark Stoops would only call it a leg injury–but Weaver himself shared the news via his personal Twitter account Monday morning, his 21st birthday, of all days.

“Man I don’t even know where to start!” Weaver wrote. “This year have been the hardest of my life… my father got killed and I just found out I have a tore ACL! They say, God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers. Happy 21 birthday to me.”

Man I don’t even know where to start! This year have been the hardest of my life💯💯 my father got killed and I just found out I have a tore ACL! They say, God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers. Happy 21 birthday To Me 🙏🏾💔 #WatchMeShakeBack #LongliveMyPops

— JJ Weaver (@jjtimeee) November 30, 2020

When asked about Weaver on Monday, Mark Stoops said, “He’s got a serious lower leg injury and he’ll be out for some time and we’re extremely disappointed for JJ. He was arguably playing as good as anybody on our team, so it’s disappointing.

“JJ is in good spirits. He will return. He will overcome this injury, many people have. He’ll get back. Our docs will do a good job, he’ll rehab extremely hard, he’ll be back. It will take some time but he’ll come back at full strength. It is disappointing to see a young man play so hard, so physical, so talented; it’s very disappointing.”

As Stoops noted, Weaver was playing as well as anyone at the time of his injury. He’s credited with 33 tackles, half a sack, a pass break-up and two QB hurries for the 2020 season, which unfortunately ended for him in Gainesville.