There was lots to watch at the first-ever Illinois gymnastics Orange and Blue Exhibition on Sunday — men’s head coach Justin Spring jumping around trying to pump up fan support, gymnasts switching places mid routine, Josh Wilson answering a phone call while on the parallel bars and much more.

My focus kept drifting to one particular gymnast who had a brace on his right arm. He went from event-to-event cheering on his teammates and was arguably louder than anyone else. C.J. Maestas, sophomore gymnast and Illini superstar, was far away from me, but it wasn’t hard to tell that he wanted to be out there competing. Once closer, the hungry look was easily visible in his dark brown eyes.

Maestas, reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year and rings national champion, is sidelined for the 2013 season due to a right tricep injury.

Maestas was a leader last season when Illinois won its first national championship in 23 years. He was slotted to anchor five of the six events this year. The team has major gaps to fill without Maestas.

Fortunately for him, he will be able to redshirt. Now Maestas will graduate right before the Rio 2016 Olympics, where he has the potential to be one of Team USA’s top performers.

Maestas plans to return to competition for the Visa Championships next August. It may be hard for Maestas to bounce back to his full ability. Not that Maestas is the type of person to let a season-ending injury get him down.

“There are hard times, but the good always outweighs the bad,” Maestas said last Monday.

In August of 2011, before Maestas had even started his freshman classes, he represented Illinois in the Visa Championships. He took the silver medal on the high bar and was named to the U.S. Senior National Team and the Pan-American Team. With that, Maestas won The Daily Illini’s Illini of the Week award, the first time a freshman ever received that title in the first week of school. And it wasn’t even the regular season.

As the gymnastics beat reporter, I had to explain to him what the award was, just like every single award he won was explained to him throughout the course of the season. His typical response: “Oh, that’s cool,” before he went on to training or hanging out with his teammates.

That was my first of many profiles on Maestas. He went on to win Illini of the Week three more times and was The Daily Illini’s Illini of the Year.

My intro was about Maestas’ swagger and confidence, how he walked into the gym exclaiming about how Illinois was going to win the national championship in 2012. When Maestas says something, you believe him. He has that aura of confidence yet humility, an aura that can’t be replicated very easily.

So, when Illinois had an up-and-down season, with one of their stars kicked off the team right before the postseason, I still had faith because Maestas was still there.

It’s hard to have faith now because the Illini have a lot to make up for. Senior Yoshi Mori, the Illini’s next best all-arounder will have to step up. There’s no single gymnast who can make up for Maestas, but several young gymnasts can contribute on more events and hopefully fill in the gaps. It won’t be easy, but a lot can happen before the big meets this spring.

However, it’s not like Maestas is going anywhere. He’ll be there mentally, just not physically. Even though he won’t be able to contribute his unmatchable high scores in the all-around, he’ll still be sporting the can-do, hungry attitude.

“C.J. is the most outgoing person I’ve ever met,” Spring said last April. “Whether he’s competing or not, he gets more excited than anyone else out there.

He’ll still be at every meet he can and his leadership will still be clutch for Illinois in its quest to defend the national title.

“This is my team, these are my guys,” Maestas said last Monday. “You could put me in a full-body cast and I’d still be wheeled out to be with them.”

The running joke last season was that every one of my articles could open with a different anecdote that defined Maestas’ fierceness. Like how in his first all-around competition he guzzled honey and sugar and ate snow to get through the grueling competition. Or how he dislocated his finger in the middle of a parallel bars routine only to pop it back in and continue. Or how after anchoring the rings at the national championships and propelling Illinois to the title, he exclaimed that he would have completed that routine in a shark tank.

Maestas can’t fix this problem with honey, sugar or even his toughness. He can’t talk away the pain or speed up the recovery process. He can’t compete in the important meets and help lead his team to a second straight title.

You never want to see an athlete get hurt, especially ones like Maestas. It was a long and stressful road for the 20-year-old to make it to Illinois and once he finally made it here, he seemed destined for greatness. Maestas fell short of his goal to make the London Olympic team last summer, but his sights were set on Rio. And he wasn’t near finished with one Illinois national title, he had high hopes of building a powerhouse.

This column was supposed to be about how everyone should be watching Maestas this season, how the Illini were ranked No. 1 in the country and could likely defend their title, and how this wouldn’t be a season to miss.

Everything is different now, but the Illini are used to being the underdogs. And although you won’t see Maestas’ rock-solid rings routine or thrilling release moves on the high bar, you should still be looking for him on the sidelines.

I know I will, yo.

Emily is a graduate student. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyBayci.