Kentucky's Jaden Smith tears ACL, out for season

The news came out of Stein's Wednesday show, and it's about as bad as Kentucky fans feared when Smith went down in Columbia.

Adam Luckett

@AdamLuckettKSR

Will Stein says Kentucky nickel Jaden Smith tore his ACL against South Carolina and is out for the season. LB Antwan Smith had ankle surgery from an injury suffered in the same game. He may be able to return for the postseason. LIVE SHOW UPDATES: t.co/OQeGj0Cmwf

Smith got hurt in the October 3 game at Williams-Brice, the 35-34 overtime win over South Carolina. His knee buckled while he was rushing LaNorris Sellers and he had to be helped off. He then missed the LSU game the following week, and now there's an answer: a torn ACL and the rest of the season gone. Antwan Smith got hurt in that same game, and his ankle needed surgery. The one bit of good news is that Stein left the door open for him to come back in the postseason.

Kentucky has already been playing without both of them, so this isn't a brand-new hole in the depth chart. What changes is that there's no longer a return date to wait for. A nickel is a tough spot to cover with backups in the SEC, where you're seeing 3-wide sets every week, and Stein has been calling this defense thin for over a month.

The timing stinks. Kentucky's 6-game win streak ended Saturday in a 34-6 beatdown at Tennessee, and Stein clearly hasn't gotten over the film.

Credit to the guy for not ducking it. Plenty of coaches go with 'we'll look at the tape' and move on. Stein went straight to saying the tape makes him want to throw up, and he put a good chunk of the blame on himself.

Adam Luckett

@AdamLuckettKSR

Stein: "That was disappointing as an offensive performance from us...We all made mistakes. I made mistakes. Could have called a timeout in a spot where I didn't know if we necessarily had the right call out of the huddle, and we clearly didn't." t.co/OQeGj0BOGH

Adam Luckett

@AdamLuckettKSR

Stein: "When you watch the tape, it'll make you want to throw up. To be honest. There was critical mistakes and big moments that really gave the game away." t.co/SCjKNk5fos

First-year coach, 7-2 overall, 5-2 in the SEC, still in the conversation for a Playoff spot. Owning a missed timeout is the right move when the locker room is watching how you handle the first real gut punch of the season. Stein's line this week has been that Kentucky needs to keep its swag and remember it's a really good football team.

Next up is Florida, Saturday night at Kroger Field. Kentucky's secondary is already down its nickel for good, so the offense can't put up another 6-point dud. Antwan Smith's postseason return is the one thing left to root for on the injury front. Kentucky needs to win enough to make that return matter.