Kentucky Football: Jordan Jones suffers shoulder injury that will require surgery

The Kentucky Wildcats have lost a big piece of their defense on the gridiron.

On Thursday, head coach Mark Stoops announced that senior linebacker Jordan Jones suffered a shoulder injury, which will require surgery and keep him out until the fall.

“We expect a full recovery that will push it right until about August,” said Stoops. “It’s unfortunate. He’s been getting better and had a really good spring, but he had a shoulder injury and he’s getting operated on.”

Jones missed a good stretch of this past season due to a shoulder injury. He did finish with 64 tackles, two sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss, but it was a step back from what he was in 2016.

As a true sophomore that year, Jones was an All-SEC performer while leading the SEC in solo tackles per game and had as many as 19 tackles in a single game. He led the team and ranked third in the SEC in tackles per game with 8.4 (109 total). He even ranked 16th nationally in solo tackles per game (5.7)

Jones was a constant presence in opposing backfields, leading the team with nine quarterback hurries and 15.5 tackles for loss.