UK Football’s Jordan Jones ruled out after Sept. 14 practice

Jordan+Jones+%2334+of+the+Kentucky+Wildcats+is+injured+during+the+game+against+EKU+on+Saturday%2C+September+9%2C+2017%2C+in+Lexington%2C+Ky.+Kentucky+defeated+EKU+27+to+16.+Photo+by+Arden+Barnes+%7C+Staff

Jordan Jones #34 of the Kentucky Wildcats is injured during the game against EKU on Saturday, September 9, 2017, in Lexington, Ky. Kentucky defeated EKU 27 to 16. Photo by Arden Barnes | Staff

UK Football head coach Mark Stoops confirmed Thursday that star linebacker Jordan Jones will officially not be playing when the UK Football team travels to face South Carolina on Saturday. The junior’s injury is “week-to-week,” Stoops said.

Jones suffered a shoulder injury in last week’s battle with Eastern Kentucky, and it’s more severe than it appeared to be in the game.

“I’m not going to get into the specifics of that, it does me no good,” Stoops said after the team’s practice Thursday. “I’m not a doctor, and I know there’s a lot of speculation, and, you know, it’s a shoulder injury. There isn’t a timeline right now.”

With the absence of the All-SEC linebacker Jones, redshirt sophomore Eli Brown steps into the starting spot at the weak side linebacker position. Brown has registered one solo tackle this year, which came against Eastern Kentucky, and has two total tackles on the year.

“I was really looking forward to seeing [Brown] get more reps this past Saturday,” Stoops said. “… Obviously, it was a tight game, but he’s been playing good. He’s really had a solid camp. So I’m looking forward to seeing him play, honestly.”

He saw his most extensive game action in UK’s loss to Tennessee last year, after Jones went down with a different injury. He registered four tackles in that game, and earned his career high of seven tackles against Alabama last year. Jones had eight against Eastern Kentucky last week.

Stoops also talked about the good play he’s seen from backup linebacker Jamar “Boogie” Watson.

“We’ve been working on [Watson], learning linebacker and defensive end,” Stoops said. “… He’s a guy that we move around a bit. You haven’t seen all that yet.”

Other than the Cats being short-staffed at linebacker, Stoops told the media that the rest of the team is good to go, and that it’s been a good week of practice.

“We had a pretty solid week of practice, we’re looking forward to wrapping it up tomorrow with our last day of preparation, getting on the plane, and heading to South Carolina,” Stoops said.