:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/3991466/124547487.jpg)
Just when you thought that Kentucky's lot this season could not get any worse, promising freshman running back Josh Clemons has a torn meniscus in one of his his right knee. He has undergone surgery this morning and will be unable to return to the team until next year.
The injury was suffered during the South Carolina game. Here's what Joker Phillips had to say, via Kyle Tucker at the Courier-Journal:
Just a quick announcement: Josh Clemons, Saturday we recognized he was a little gimpy. He was trying to go. He came in Sunday just for a routine injury report and we got him (an) MRI yesterday. He had surgery this morning and is out for the season. Meniscus. I’m not sure exactly which one, but he’s out for the season. But we’ve got a couple backs that have played this year because of Raymond’s absence. Therefore, we expect those guys to pick it up
Obviously, this is a big setback for Kentucky. For those of you wondering whether or not Phillps will burn Marcus Caffey's redshirt, the answers is probably not:
You know, at Week 6, probably not. We’ve got to get Brandon Gainer going. Brandon’s been on some of the special teams and we’ve got to try to see if he can first. If not the next two weeks, then we will look at the young kind. But right now, we’ve got try to see if Brandon Gainer can add some depth.
I actually think this is wise. CoShik Williams has shown some signs this year, and if he can get healthy again, and Gainer can give some RB depth behind Sanders, I'd say we're better off saving him. This season is probably going to be a tough one to say the very least, and it makes more sense to have all your weapons available for next year, especially from Phillips' standpoint, as he'll be under quite a bit of pressure to win if this season continues south like it's headed right now.
Injuries happen to us every year. We can just be thankful we haven't had to go through what Tennessee has. Clemons was helping, but he was hardly a star on this team -- not that anybody could really be considered a "star." This hurts, but we do have dept at running back now that Sanders is back.