UK loses Jalen Geiger to significant knee injury; Jordan Lovett is next man up

The Kentucky Wildcats beat the Florida Gators in one of the top matchups of Week 2.

It was a thrilling game in which Kentucky fought back after taking a 3-point deficit into the half. Kentucky ended up winning 26-16, and their dominant defense was a large part of their success.

Moving forward though, with expectations still sky-high, the Cats will be without junior defensive back Jalen Geiger. He suffered a “significant” leg injury after being leveled following an illegal blindside block.

Geiger was carted off the field and had to have his leg stabilized, so he was never set to return to the game.

Mark Stoops said this following the game:

“It doesn’t look good. I really feel for Jalen. He’s a heck of a young man and has been playing really good football.”

For what it’s worth, Geiger just tweeted out this statement, which certainly makes it sound like he’ll be out a while but isn’t letting it get him down.

Geiger is the team’s starting free safety. Jordan Lovett will step up in his Geiger’s absence, and Stoops appeared to have the utmost confidence that they won’t miss a beat. Hopefully that’s the case.

The team’s defense will suffer a loss if Geiger isn’t able to go in the coming weeks. October 1 against Mississippi State will be the next major matchup the Cats have, so hopefully he can get back on the field prior to conference play really heating up.

With Geiger out, Kentucky will now rely more on backup safety Jordan Lovett, who ended up getting a heavy workload Saturday once Geiger went out and made seven tackles.

Lovett, a 6-foot-2, 202-pound DB from Radcliff (KY), is in his second year with the program after redshirting last season. He’s been listed as the second-string free safety behind Geiger and looks like the starter going forward.

Look for redshirt sophomore Zion Childress and redshirt junior Taj Dodson to earn more reps as well.

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