Illini OL Blake Jeresaty Out For 2020 Season Following Labrum Surgery

Wofford graduate transfer OL Blake Jeresaty will not play in the 2020 season due to having labrum surgery last month.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois head coach Lovie Smith will have to wait a little longer on one of the graduate transfers they were hoping would be an instant impact player.

Smith confirmed Wednesday that Wofford graduate transfer Blake Jeresaty will be sidelined for the entire 2020 fall season due to suffering a shoulder injury that required him to have labrum surgery last month.

The Big Ten Conference announced Wednesday morning its plan to conduct a nine-week fall football season with the start date being the weekend of Oct. 23-24 and the final "Championship Weekend" being Dec. 19. 

“We had to get it taken care of,” Smith said Wednesday in his Zoom video media conference with local and statewide reporters. “It’s disappointing. When you bring in a graduate transfer athlete, of course you’d like for them to be able to play right away.”

Jeresaty, a 2019 Associated Press All-America selection at Wofford, verbally committed to Illinois on April 11 and was expected to replace the departing graduate transfer Richie Petitbon, who started every game at right guard last season after arriving from Alabama.

Jeresaty has started 29 games at center over the last three seasons at Wofford and was named an FCS All-America selection by AP, STATS FCS, the American Football Coaches Association and Phil Steele.

Illinois graduate OL Blake Jeresaty started 29 games at center over the last three seasons at Wofford and was named an FCS All-America selection by AP, STATS FCS, the American Football Coaches Association and Phil Steele / Wofford College Athletics Department file photo

Jeresaty was an anchor on a Wofford offensive line that helped pave the way for the second-ranked rushing game in FCS football at 305.8 yards per game and allowed only four sacks in a triple-option offense during a season where the Terriers finished 2019 with a 8-4 overall record that concluded with a first round loss in the NCAA FCS Playoffs.

So excited for this team! Can’t wait to get back out there🔶🔷 https://t.co/49YeayRig7

— Blake Jeresaty (@Bmjeresaty) September 16, 2020

Jeresaty, who turns 23 years old this April, will have the option to come back next fall and play the 2021 season for Illinois as the Illini are still slated to open that campaign in Dublin, Ireland against Nebraska.

Smith said Wednesday that Jeresaty’s injury will likely force younger in-state products such as sophomore Verdis Brown, a former 2018 four-star prospect by ESPN.com and Rivals.com along with sophomore Jordyn Slaughter, a former consensus three-star 2018 recruit out of Belleville, Ill.

Before the 2020 season began, Pro Football Focus ranked Illinois’ returning offensive line with the highest overall grade of any returning unit in the Big Ten Conference this season. The Illini will still likely have two starting seniors and a rising junior (Kendrick Green) already drawing interest from National Football League scouts returning for the upcoming 2020 season. Of the seven Illinois players named to Athlon Sports’ All-Big Ten Teams, three (Green, right tackle Alex Palczewski and center Doug Kramer) were on the starting offensive line unit.

“With Blake being out, we have the chance at an all Illinois high school product offensive line this season,” Smith said Wednesday. “We’ve been waiting on a Verdis Brown to step up and a guy like Jordyn Slaughter. So we feel like we have other players step in but we’ll miss Blake.”