When it comes to the injury bug, nobody is more familiar with that bug than Kentucky Wildcats running back Tovani Mizell. Will Stein broke the news on Saturday that the junior running back suffered a season-ending injury and underwent surgery earlier in the week.
Mizell was a 3-star recruit from Florida who was once committed to Georgia in high school. In the spring of 2023, he decommitted and committed to Kentucky. Before his senior year at Western High School in Broward County, Florida, he had a knee
injury.
Then, at Kentucky, he has had issue after issue with injuries that kept him off the football field. He wasn’t even healthy last offseason, but ended up finally getting some real live game reps as a Wildcat for the first time. His freshman year, he had one carry. Last year, in his sophomore season, he had three carries.
Heading into his junior year, there were high hopes for the reserve running back, as we have already seen, but those hopes may be thin due to the looming injury bug. Then, another setback for Mizell, this time exactly two weeks out from the kickoff of the 2026 season.
Prayers for a speedy recovery!
Elsewhere, the chaos of the 2022 class continues, with the latest update being a stay granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Colorado class action that initially granted the entire class of 2022 players a fifth year. That case involves a former Wildcat Alex Afari Jr.
Afari had been allowed to get back in pads and practice with the 2026 football team, but that opportunity was officially revoked on Friday. And Stein confirmed on Saturday that Afari is no longer practicing for the team.
“We’re not going to practice with a guy that’s not eligible to play, so he wasn’t out there today. We’ll play with the guys we’ve got,” Stein said.
Afari’s next move could be to jump into a state lawsuit, similar to what Missouri fifth-year transfer Mark Mitchell has done in Louisville. He could also choose to file his own and fight for one more year of eligibility.
Another setback, but hopefully Afari and his people get this worked out quickly, with the season being 14 days away. All of BBN, and everyone involved with the football program, would love to see Afari back in the blue and white this Fall!
