On Thursday, Pitt announced that junior wing William Jeffress received surgery for a foot injury suffered before the season which will keep him out for the entire year.
Jeffress, an Erie, PA native, started 16 games as a sophomore for Pitt. He averaged 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game for the Panthers. His initial injury timetable suggested that he would be back by game one of the season, but after a while off the court, Pitt’s Jeff Capel told reporters recently that it was expected that Jeffress would miss the season.
“Will was having a terrific offseason prior to the foot injury and we were hopeful that rest and rehab would enable him to avoid the surgery,” Jeff Capel said. “When the discomfort in his food remained following an extended time off, we knew it would be in his best interest to go through with the surgery. We expect Will to make a full recovery and come back stronger than ever next season.”
Now, after having surgery, the former four-star prospect is expected to receive a medical redshirt for this season and will still have three seasons of eligibility remaining going forward.
In Jeffress’ absence, Pitt has looked to reserves Jorge Diaz-Graham and Nate Santos on the wing behind starters Greg Elliott and Blake Hinson as well as sixth man Nike Sibande. Diaz-Graham is averaging 4.4 points per game so far in his freshman campaign, while Santos is averaging 2.5.
I hope he has a good recovery and comes back to be a key piece next year. He has so much potential!
good news … get healthy Will. H2P !
Would be nice to know what the injury was and/or what procedure was performed.
There’s a little thing called HIPA. He may not want it to be disclosed
No loss here…..he wasn’t going to get many minutes with Hinson/others and the others.
Perhaps a year, of catch up…since he was so young, will do wonders for his game.