If it weren’t for bad luck, Tovani Mizell would have no luck at all. Kentucky’s reserve running back just can’t seem to shake the injury bug.
Head coach Will Stein revealed on Saturday that Mizell suffered another season-ending injury. He underwent surgery earlier this week.
“That’s really disappointing for him more than anything. The guy’s battled a lot of injuries here, and honestly, just had a string of bad luck. It isn’t for a lack of want-to or working through, you know; he just had some really unfortunate injuries,” said the Kentucky head coach. “We’re praying for him, and they’re for him. So it really sucks for him.”
Mizell was once a four-star talent committed to play football at Georgia. Ahead of his senior year of high school, he suffered a knee injury. Setbacks sidelined him during his freshman season at Kentucky. He was not healthy last summer either, but was able to recover in time to appear in three games for the Wildcats. Finally healthy in the preseason, Mizell caught the coaches’ attention during the early days of fall camp.
“He’s light on his feet, very light. He looked like a horse coming out there walking around the paddock,” said running backs coach Kolby Smith.
Offensive coordinator Joe Sloan added, “He’s a thick, good-looking cat. He’s thick. He can move laterally. I think he’s got good twitch. He just hasn’t been healthy. So, that’s the thing. He hasn’t gotten to play that much football the last couple years.”
Unfortunately, that trend is continuing for Mizell.
Meanwhile, Kentucky has reportedly gauged interest in former UCLA and SMU running back TJ Harden, who received an injunction last week to play a fifth year of college football. The Wildcats also added a pair of JUCO running backs, Ahmir Smith and Jordan Colbert, in July to add more depth to the running back room.
Other Kentucky Injury News
Mizell isn’t the only Wildcat with an extensive injury history. There were a handful of players who did not participate in practice when Fall Camp kicked off.
RB CJ Baxter: Received “real reps” with the team in practice.
RB Jovantae Barnes: “Still limited.”
OG Tegra Tshabola: Participated in today’s scrimmage.
WR Nic Anderson: Ran routes this week. “He was out there pre-scrimmage, running full speed.”
“When we have our full strength, we look like a real SEC team. We’re really big up front. We got big receivers, big tight ends, and backs,” said the Kentucky head coach.
“It’s just about managing those guys’ workload, and I think we’ve done a really good job of the staff being on the same page, pushing them to where we need to get them to be, playing week one.”