Injuries, COVID Make Wildcats’ Uphill Battle Against Bama Steeper

Kentucky is set to take on Alabama in Tuscaloosa at 3:00 Saturday afternoon, but could the game be in jeopardy?

It was reported late Friday that Kentucky football would be without 16 of their players going into their matchup against Alabama Crimson Tide.

Now sources have divulged more details about the absences, including some of the key players who will be missing from Saturday's matchup.

It's unclear which players are out due to COVID quarantine protocols and which are out from injury.

One thing is clear, though -- the Wildcats will some of those players miss dearly, especially P Max Duffy and RB Chris Rodriguez.

Duffy, the First-Team All- American selection last year and Ray Guy Award winner, missed last week’s game against the Vanderbilt Commodores due to an undisclosed reason. This season he is averaging 46.3 yards per punt, and his lengthy punts have been pivotal in the teams overall defensive success. 

Rodriguez is the heart and soul of the offense considering they don't throw the ball all that much. On the season he has 562 yards and six touchdowns with an impressive average of 6.4 yards a carry. Last week he bulldozed through the Commodore defense, having his best game of the year with 149 yards and two touchdowns. 

Luckily enough, they do still have Asim Rose Jr, a senior out of Ohio who's had 55 carries on the year. Rose Jr. should be able to pick up some of the slack, but his skill isn't directly comparable to Rodriguez's. 

The Wildcats were 30-point underdogs before this news hit, now it's expected that the line will go up even more in favor of the Tide. 

Alabama hasn’t played a football game in the last two weeks, so fingers crossed that the game will be able to kick off without a hitch.