Kentucky Football fans have essentially become lawyers through Twitter law school over the last few weeks, with Mark Mitchell’s ups and downs changing every day, and ultimately, Kentucky got burned by that situation, with Mitchell back at Missouri.
In Wednesday’s news, Kentucky fans can get excited about a new court ruling, with Louisville Circuit Judge Brian Edwards ruling in favor of Alex Afari, which gives Afari the eligibility to play one more season at Kentucky.
Afari will now be given a temporary restraining order and will be able to lace up his shoes and play in a Kentucky Wildcat jersey again.
However, not long after this news broke, head coach Will Stein hopped on the SEC coaches’ teleconference and said Kentucky still needs to get through some procedures before Afari can play in live games.
“He’s been working with us throughout fall camp, so we’re waiting for a few more things to be answered,” said Stein. “And if those get answered, then we’ll proceed.”
Greg Sankey and the SEC have voiced their opinions on professional athletes, or players who signed a single professional contract, and their moves coming back to college. With extreme threats of fines, suspensions, and even expulsion from the SEC. This shouldn’t ultimately come into play with Afari, as he only participated in a tryout with the Green Bay Packers and never signed an NFL contract.
For Kentucky, this is a substantial move. Afari has accumulated 193 tackles in his career as a Wildcat so far. He also led the team in tackles for loss over the last two seasons as an athlete who has played a lot of football in Lexington already under the previous regime.
Now, Will Stein is able to add a veteran linebacker to a room that is already expecting a huge year out of Grant Godfrey in the linebacker room, as the only player in that position room who has started a college football game.
We are now only three days away from the kickoff of the Will Stein era, and the defense just got a little bit better this week! BBN should be very excited to see Afari in the blue and white very soon!