How frequent Josh Allen comparisons could foretell breakout year for Kentucky’s J.J. Weaver

The comparisons have followed J.J. Weaver since he committed to Kentucky.
As one of the crown jewels in the Wildcats’ 2019 signing class and the subject of a high profile recruiting battle against archrival Louisville, it was inevitable Weaver would be compared to the player at his position dominating college football in the 2018 season. Weaver signed with Kentucky just weeks before 2018 national defensive player of the year Josh Allen would play his final game as a Wildcat, leading some pundits appointing him the heir apparent at outside linebacker before he ever played a college game.
While Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops specifically pushed back on comparing any high school player to Allen on Weaver’s signing day, UK coaches have never been shy about the potential they saw in the former Moore High School star.
Four years later, it seems safer than ever to classify Allen as a generational talent in a league of his own, but Weaver’s potential continues to be compared to the now Jacksonville Jaguars star pass rusher.
“I know Josh Allen, personally,” Weaver said during Kentucky’s appearance at SEC Media Days on Wednesday, dismissing the suggestion that the constant comparisons to Allen might have added pressure for him. “I could call him right now. Literally, I talked to him yesterday before this meeting.
“Just listening to him. He tells me, ‘Be you. Don’t be me.’”
In 35 games across four seasons at Kentucky, J.J. Weaver has totaled 23.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.
Most players are known quantities by the time they reach their fifth college season, but Weaver looks like the rare case where there still might be significant room for growth.
Just when he looked on the verge of a breakout as a redshirt freshman in 2020, Weaver tore the ACL in his right knee in a November game at Florida. Weaver returned to the field ahead of schedule in time for the 2021 opener, but he played most of that season still shy of full strength.
More than a year removed from his surgery, Weaver was expected to begin translating his physical gifts into consistent pass rushing production in 2022, but three games into last season he dislocated his left elbow. The injury sidelined him for just two games, but again when Weaver returned to the field he had to play through the lingering effects of the ailment.
While Weaver submitted his name to the NFL for draft feedback and even participated in UK’s Senior Day festivities last season in case he had played his final game as a Wildcat, he now admits he was close to certain he would ultimately return for one more season of college football as soon as he suffered the elbow injury.
The injury setbacks had prevented Weaver from showcasing his full potential to NFL teams. The hope was an offseason dedicated to conditioning and nutrition would set him up for the same type of showcase senior season that vaulted Allen to a top-10 NFL Draft pick.
“The message to J.J. — and he knows and he’s the one that brought it to me — is consistency,” defensive coordinator Brad White said during spring practice. “Is consistency of effort, weight, strength. Everything matters. It doesn’t just matter one week or two weeks. It matters every day, every practice, every weightlifting session, every time you’ve got a chance to be a leader.
“Everybody always asks (about) Josh Allen, those guys. … It was the daily focus to be the best and to be great. I think that light bulb has gone off for him.”
Weaver reports adding close to 15 pounds this offseason, weighing in at 255 pounds. He wants to add another 5 pounds of muscle before the start of the season in order to build a cushion that will keep him productive for 12 regular season games and a bowl.
Improving his physical health has coincided with focusing on his mental health.
Weaver’s ACL injury came five months after his father, Terrance Weaver, was killed in a shooting in Albany, Georgia. By the time he returned to the field in 2021, Weaver also had lost his beloved high school coach, Rob Reader, after a battle with cancer.
“I need help,” Weaver said, acknowledging the anger and depression he felt after the death of his father hindered his ability to maintain his weight. “I wanted help for my mental health. Using a counselor and going to therapy helps a lot. I think going to therapy helped me open up and feel like myself again.”
Weaver’s teammates have taken notice of the new mindset.
“He’s always been a hard worker, he always punches the clock, but I feel like it’s the way he punches the clock now,” defensive lineman Octavious Oxendine said. “Our strength coach has been harping on us … it’s about how we do everything aggressively.
“So, we need to do things more aggressively. When you go over the hurdles, go over aggressively. When you lift weight, lift the weight aggressively. Don’t just lift the weight. I feel like that’s one thing that’s changed about (Weaver), how he’s going about things.”
That’s a story familiar to Kentucky fans who watched Allen use the birth of his first child before his senior season to fuel his quest to prove himself to NFL scouts.
When Weaver and Allen talk now, Allen is quick to remind Weaver their situations are different. Weaver has no child spurring him as motivation. He has to find a different fuel for the grueling offseason work needed if he is to finally prove himself as an elite pass rusher.
Weaver has totaled 9.5 sacks in 35 games for Kentucky. Allen recorded 17 sacks in his senior season alone.
The lessons learned in therapy have helped Weaver avoid dwelling on his numerous injuries and the fear the nightmare could repeat itself this fall. Instead, he is focusing on the fun football brings, knowing injuries are a risk every player takes.
Weaver is aiming for double-digits sacks in his final season as a Wildcat. Staying on the field will be essential to that goal, but Weaver will also need to use the pass rushing techniques White has taught him to win more one-on-one battles against elite SEC offensive linemen.
Stoops hired White prior to Allen’s senior season in part to make sure he had a coach with NFL experience on the staff capable of teaching the Wildcats budding star to take the next step in his game.
Now, the hope is at least that part of the Allen comparisons will ring true for Weaver.
“Hopefully he’s taken a page out of Josh Allen’s book, where he just came back and put his head down and really went to work and doing all the things necessary to put himself in position to have a great year,” Stoops said Wednesday. “... That’s the big thing, to just really attack every day and be consistent with it. With his weight and his strength, you can see that to this point.
“He’s got to keep on going.”