NCAA Grants Immediate Eligibility Transfer Waiver For Illini OL Brevyn Jones
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Brevyn Jones will be eligible to play for Illinois in this upcoming 2020 fall season.
The former Mississippi State offensive lineman tweeted Wednesday afternoon he’d received his immediately eligible waiver from the NCAA and was on the practice field when the Illini began on-field workouts Wednesday evening.
The Big Ten Conference announced Wednesday morning its plan to conduct a nine-week fall football season with the start date being the weekend of Oct. 23-24 and the final "Championship Weekend" being Dec. 19.
Brevyn Jones, who announced in April his intention to transfer from Mississippi State to Illinois, was granted immediately eligible waiver from the NCAA.
Jones, who senior right tackle Alex Palczewski confirmed in early August was working with the second-team unit at left tackle behind starter Vederian Lowe, gave his verbal commitment to Illinois on April 30 and represented another success story for Illinois head coach Lovie Smith and his staff’s ability to recruit the transfer portal.
“Coaching staff showed me loved since day one checking up on me everyday just felt like family,” Jones said in April in an interview with Illini Now/Sports Illustrated. “Plus Illinois is on the come up and I want to be a part of it and it’s going to be nice to be in a different part of the country.”
Jones is an athletic offensive tackle prospect from the Birmingham, Ala., metro area and spent last season as a redshirt year with the Mississippi State program after signing as a consensus three-star offensive tackle by 247Sports.com, Rivals.com and ESPN.com from Huffman High School after turning down scholarship offers from Tulane, Louisiana-Lafayette, Florida Atlantic and Appalachian State. He’ll likely get the opportunity to win one of the two tackle spots in the 2021 season after Lowe and Palczewski exhaust their eligibility.
The news of Jones’ instant eligibility on an experienced Illini offensive line comes on the same day Smith confirmed a season-ending injury will prohibit Wofford graduate transfer Blake Jeresaty from being able to play in this 2020 season. Smith said Jeresaty will be sidelined for the entire 2020 fall season due to suffering a shoulder injury that required him to have labrum surgery last month.