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The Kentucky Wildcats will be without their starting quarterback for the remainder of 2019.
Sunday, UK confirmed that Terry Wilson suffered a torn patellar tendon in his left knee that will require surgery. The injury came during Kentucky’s 38-17 victory over Eastern Michigan Saturday night.
“I’m very sorry about Terry’s injury,” head coach Mark Stoops said in a press release. “He has done so much for our program over the last two seasons, both in leadership and his production on the field. As a team captain, he will continue to be an important part of our team and we look forward to him returning to the field when he has recovered.”
Wilson suffered the injury in the third quarter when he was taken down by EMU’s Turan Rush on a horse-collar tackle.
Dangerous horse collar tackle against Terry Wilson. pic.twitter.com/Vsf8T4URJk
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) September 8, 2019
Kentucky will hope to have Wilson back in 2020 for his senior season. In the meantime, the Cats will turn to Sawyer Smith as their starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.
Smith is a redshirt junior who graduated from Troy and then transferred to UK during the offseason. Unlike several transfers, Smith has starting experience.
Last season at Troy, Smith completed 62.9 of his 229 pass attempts and threw 14 touchdowns vs. six interceptions.
In his Kentucky debut Saturday night, Smith threw a 54-yard touchdown to Ahmad Wagner in his first throw as a Wildcat and went onto finish the night 5/9 with 76 yards and two touchdowns.
Smith’s first start as a Wildcat will be a big one as the Cats get set to host the Florida Gators next Saturday night on ESPN.