Freshman center Jason Jakstys will officially redshirt the 2024-25 season. The Yorkville product was listed in the team’s game notes alongside junior Ty Rodgers as players who plan to redshirt this year ahead of their matchup against SIU Edwardsville.

It has been widely known that Jakstys redshirting was a strong possibility. He didn’t play in the team’s exhibition loss to Ole Miss or the Illini’s blowout win on Monday over EIU. After the Illini’s victory in the season opener, head coach Brad Underwood all but confirmed that Jakstys would not play this year.

“We’re approaching that redshirt topic with him as well, so we don’t want to put him in a stressful situation with that,” Underwood said.

Now, it’s official. Jakstys will use this year to develop both on the court and in the weight room. There likely would have been no minutes for the 6-foot-10 center this year behind sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic, sophomore forward Carey Booth and freshman forward Morez Johnson. Unlike those players, with legitimate NBA futures, Jakstys plans to be at Illinois for the long haul.

“Obviously, I want to be a four or five-year guy here,” Jakstys said at the team’s media day. “I think one of the biggest things I need to do is be a role guy, do my job, help the team out as much as I can and just stick with it.”

With Jakstys and Rodgers redshirting this year, the Illini have 12 active players on the roster.

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