Can’t think of much worse news to surface on the Friday night before your first road game of the season, but here we are. Starting this season, schools are required to publish an ‘Availability Report’ for conference games, and with the Wildcats heading to Ole Miss on Saturday, they put theirs out at 8:10 PM the night before as asked.

Janson Hoskins and myself are on the road driving down to “The Grove” at the moment and excluding the constant rain we’ve driven through the whole way, the moment reading the report has sucked the worst.

Ohio State transfer running back Chip Trayanum, who was just cleared to play this Monday, was at the top of the list with the status of ‘OUT’ for the game. After suffering from an injury just a few weeks before the first game, he was expected to be back in 3-4 weeks. Heading into the fifth week of the season, he was expected to receive from snaps against the Rebels. Now, that’s not looking to be so and we might not get to at any point if he doesnt ever make his debut like some are suggesting.

The next notable — and in my opinion the most crucial — defensive back Maxwell Harrison is listed as ‘OUT’ as well versus Ole Miss. A foundational piece in Kentucky’s defense, they’ll definitely have a hole to fill without the star junior out on the field. Through the first 4 games he’s totaled 8 tackles, a sack, and an interception. His sophomore year was one of the best in the country and across the board everyone tabbed this season to be just as good, if not better.

It’s not been made public as to why these two are out, but Matt Jones suggests Chip Trayanum could be undergoing surgery, potentially sidelining him for the rest of the year. For Hairston, we’ll have to wait and see.

Here is the full report with 8 of Kentucky’s roster not available for the game.

Kentucky is going to need all hands on deck to upset the home team and this only hurts those chances even more. I hate to see the news and hope we get Maxwell Hairston back as quickly as possible.

Kentucky will take on the Ole Miss Rebels at 11:00 AM CT/12:00 PM ET on Saturday in Oxford, both looking for their first conference win of the season.

Kentucky might be without one of its key pieces on defense, but they still have a game to be played. Get you some sleep now because we’ve got an early morning to get to.

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