WVU DL Edward Vesterinen Will Miss 'Significant Time'

West Virginia receives some unfortunate news in regards to starting defensive lineman Edward Vesterinen.

Mike Watters-Imagn Images

West Virginia defensive lineman Edward Vesterinen could miss the rest of the 2024 season with an undisclosed injury, but head coach Neal Brown didn't completely shut the door on a return this year during his press conference on Tuesday.

“He’s going to be out for a significant time. Could potentially be back right at the end of the year, but it’s going to be significant. And he has a redshirt year, so that’s in play too.”

In the first two games, Vesterinen registered two tackles before hobbling off the field in the blowout win over UAlbany. Last season, he emerged as one of the most consistent/productive players in West Virginia's front seven totaling 28 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and three sacks.

In his absence, Troy transfer T.J. Jackson got the start and made his impact felt right away collecting six tackles and 1.5 sacks in last week's loss to Pitt.

“I’ve got a lot of issues with how we played defensively, but d-line’s not where it was. We should have finished better on the quarterback a couple times, but I thought TJ Jackson played at a really high level in his first start. As a group, we don’t have as many bodies as we had last year or earlier in the year and we miss (Vesterinen’s) leadership, but I think that was a productive group. That’s not where our issues are.”

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