Boom Williams' injury deals blow to UK offense

LEXINGTON, Ky. – If the 2014 loss to Louisville was something of a coming-out party for Stanley “Boom” Williams, the 2015 loss was a symbol of what might have been in his sophomore season.

Williams totaled 37 yards and one touchdown on seven carries before being forced out of the game with a right elbow injury on the final play of the first quarter. Williams initially injured the elbow against Tennessee on Oct. 31, but missed just one game before returning to the field against Vanderbilt sporting a brace on the elbow.

Against Louisville, Kentucky jumped out to a 21-0 lead with Williams in the game and scored just three points after his injury.

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“We struggled the three games he didn’t play this year,” UK offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “We’re definitely a different team without him out there.”

For the second consecutive season Williams led Kentucky in rushing with 855 yards and six touchdowns on 121 carries. He led the Wildcats in rushing as a freshman with 486 yards and five touchdowns on 74 carries, posting his best performance of the season with 126 yards and two touchdowns in the 2014 season finale against Louisville.

As a sophomore, Williams topped the 100-yard plateau five times in 10 games but likely would have become Kentucky’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2007 if he hadn’t missed two full games and more than one half of two other contests due to the elbow injury and a "personal issue" early in the season.

“When you see one of your best players go down it’s a hard thing,” redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Barker said. “Yeah, it was pretty tough.”

Dawson had no update on Williams’ injury after the game, but with Kentucky finishing its season at 5-7 he likely has until spring practice to recover.

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While Kentucky totaled just 143 yards in the final three quarters without Williams after recording 148 yards in the first quarter with him, neither Barker nor Dawson was willing to use the injury as an excuse for the poor second-half performance.

“I still felt like there were plays to be made the second half and we didn’t make them,” Dawson said. “So it really just comes down to that. Put it this way: We had some opportunities to do good things the second half and we just didn’t do it.”

Email Jon Hale atjahale@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter@JonHale_CJ.