Art Sitkowski will not get a chance to face his old team, the Illinois quarterback is out for not just Saturday’s game against Rutgers but the entirety of the season. The Illini starting quarterback suffered the injury in overtime of what would become the Illini’s thrilling 20-18 win at Penn State that took nine overtimes to find a winner.
Illinois head coach Bret Bielema revealed the news on Monday about Sitkowski’s surgery this week.
“Art, unfortunately, did break his arm; he will have surgery…[on] Wednesday. So, he’ll be done for the year in that regard,” Bielema told reporters.
Sitkowski played three years at Rutgers and was seemingly always in a quarterback battle. This year, his first after transferring from Rutgers to Illinois, saw Sitkwoski throw for 704 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
Bielema said that Sitkowski came into the season with a shoulder injury requiring surgery. With rehab and treatment, he attempted to gut it out but the injury made him “not anywhere close to 100 percent.”
Sitkowski was 8-for-19 for 38 yards with an interception in Sunday’s win.
The plan is for Sitkowski to first have surgery on the left hand that was injured on Saturday afternoon and then within two-to-four will have shoulder surgery.
Banged up and bruised Illini running back Chase Brown, who ran for 223 yards in the win over Penn State and was named the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Week, will practice this week “and he should be good to go.”