Kentucky’s injuries multiplying. Just don’t ask Mark Stoops for specifics.

Place me among the old-school grouches not crazy about Kentucky football’s black and blue uniforms. As the fight song says, “We’ll fight, fight, fight for the blue and white.” Although this year, to be honest, black and blue just might fit.

Heading into Saturday’s SEC East contest against 4-4 Tennessee, a 6-2 Kentucky is a beat-up football team. How beat up, you ask? Well, it’s hard to say since UK head coach Mark Stoops isn’t about to give a detailed medical report.

“No one’s given me the scouting report on injuries,” the head coach said Monday at his weekly press conference.

That’s how the back and forth went.

How about offensive tackle Dare Rosenthal and outside linebacker Jordan Wright, both injured during last Saturday’s 31-17 loss at Mississippi State.

“We’ll see,” Stoops said.

What’s the status of starting nose guard Marquan McCall, out since Oct. 2?

“We’ll see,” Stoops said.

Linebacker D’Eryk Jackson, out all season with an injury, was in uniform last Saturday but did not play. Could he play Saturday?

“We’ll see,” Stoops said.

We laughed.

“I’m not trying to be (jerk) about it,” Stoops said. “It’s just, ‘Who knows?’ Who knows whether they are available or not?”

Meanwhile, injuries multiply. That’s all they ever do. Starting defensive lineman Octavious Oxendine is out for the season. Defensive back Vito Tisdale had to be helped off the field Saturday at one point. At another, linebacker DeAndre Square, was met by trainers when he left the field.

On offense, wide receiver Josh Ali returned after a two-game absence and on his first touch returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown. He ended up catching two passes for 9 yards.

Kavosiey Smoke started at running back instead of Chris Rodriguez, currently the SEC’s second-leading rusher. When Rodriguez did enter, he fumbled twice, losing one. After the game, Stoops admitted the junior was dealing with a physical issue, something he repeated Monday. He did clarify it was not the wrist injury that bothered Rodriguez earlier in the season.

“Chris (Rodriguez) was dealing with an issue,” the coach said. “It was not the wrist last week. I’m not going to sit up here and talk about everything. These young men go through a lot and they go through a lot of practices and do a lot of hitting and things happen throughout the week. So, he was dealing with an issue last week, yes. I don’t need to make excuses for Chris, but he was not at full strength.”

At this point of the season, no college football team is in mint physical condition. Some are in better shape than others. (Two weeks ago, LSU couldn’t hold practice because of injuries.) And some coaches are more forthcoming than others. Former Kentucky coach Rick Brooks would open nearly every press conference by reading the injury report. It was a habit from his NFL days when such disclosures were mandatory.

That’s not the case in college football. When the Supreme Court legalized sports gambling, there was buzz about teams being required to release transparent injury reports. The NCAA shot that down in 2019 when an ad-hoc committee ruled the requirement not “feasible.”

Stoops has taken a “don’t tell unless asked stance.” Why give the opponent such valuable information? The UK coach rarely volunteers injury information. If the media hears through the grapevine about a possible injury or notices a name missing on the depth chart, Stoops will confirm an injury, if asked. He is rarely specific. Nor is he alone in that regard. Coaches now refer to a “lower body injury” or an “upper body injury.”

Meanwhile, the “black and blue” is taking its toll. Kentucky’s run defense has not been the same without McCall and Oxendine. Rodriguez’s run production has dropped. Now add in the various ailments among various other Wildcats that we don’t know about.

“There is no reason to feel sorry for ourselves,” Stoops said. “This league is brutal. Nobody is going to feel sorry for you. There’s not too many other teams in the league with much better records than us. We all know there’s one or two that are absolutely elite. The rest of us are scrapping.”

You play with who you got.

Saturday

Tennessee at No. 18 Kentucky

When: 7 p.m.

Records: UT 4-4 (2-3 SEC); UK 6-2 (4-2 SEC)

TV: ESPN2

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