LSU At Kentucky Injury Report: Wildcats Have 6 Players Out, Including Key Defensive Back Jaden Smith

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Kentucky’s defense is already off to a struggling start, and the Wildcats find themselves minus four defenders going into its home game against LSU’s highly ranked offense on Saturday night.

No. 25 Kentucky (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) and No. 10 LSU (4-1, 1-1 SEC) kick off at 6 p.m. on ESPN from Kroger Field in Lexington. The Tigers are a 10.5-point favorite and are No. 3 in the nation in total offense with 547.8 yards a game, 13th in passing with 310.2 yards a game and 15th in rushing with 237.6 yards a game.

Kentucky is 104th in the nation against the pass (232 yards a game), 92nd in total defense (376.6 yards a game) and 75th against the run (144.2 yards a game).

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Defensive back Jaden Smith (knee) was ruled out of the game this week after suffering an injury in the Wildcats’ 35-34 win at South Carolina last week. Smith had four tackles and a quarterback hurry last week and has seven tackles on the season with one for loss.

“Obviously, Jaden Smith went out, which was unfortunate,” Kentucky coach Will Stein said. “I mean, we’re low at star. It was very unfortunate, so we just kept fighting.”

Four other players ruled out for tonight’s game were from previous injuries. Those are inside linebackers Antwan Smith and Tavion Wallace and offensive linemen Aba Selm and Kalen Edwards. Inside linebacker Alex Afari Jr. was also dealing with an injury. But he has been ruled out because he lost his eligibility case against the NCAA as one of the hundreds of 2022 signees suing the NCAA over its new rule granting players five seasons of eligibility instead of four beginning with the class of 2023. The NCAA just won its case against Afari on appeal.

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LSU has five players listed as out for tonight’s game. All are from previous games. The Tigers had no injuries in their 63-14 win over McNeese State last week. LSU players out for this game are starting tight end Trey’Dez Green (knee) and starting linebacker Whit Weeks (leg). The other three players out are all out for the season – starting defensive back (star position) Dashawn Spears, backup linebacker Charles Ross II and backup wide receiver Phillip Wright III.

LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, who was slowed by a minor hamstring injury the last two weeks, is expected to be at or close to 100 percent tonight.