Blessuan Austin has, to say the least, not had the best last couple of days.
First and foremost, the Rutgers cornerback will be forced to undergo surgery Friday on the same knee in which he tore the ACL last season, Chris Ash confirmed Monday. Earlier this month, it was reported that Austin sustained an unspecified knee injury in RU’s season-opening win over Texas State.
Austin, the Scarlet Knights’ top defensive back and arguably its best player on that side of the ball regardless of position, has missed the last two games because of the injury, and seems very likely to miss the rest of them as well as it’s believed there’s an issue with the same ACL in the same knee.
On top of that, Austin kicked up a bit of an off-field kerfuffle when he posted a tweet to his personal Twitter account over the weekend that appeared to mock his head coach’s quote that stated, when it comes to rebuilding the Scarlet Knights, it "[s]ometimes these things take four, five, even six years.”
While the tweet was deleted, nj.com posted a screen snap of the post in question.
After deleting the tweet, Austin posted the following follow-up:
Just frustrated i cant be on the field wirh my brothers , thats all
— Blessuan Austin (@BlessuanAustin) September 16, 2018
Austin, who has started 26 games during his time in Piscataway, sustained his latest injury picking off his first pass of the season. Last year, Austin missed the last two-thirds of the season because of a torn ACL.
A medical redshirt that would give him another year of eligibility that Austin could use in 2019 would be a slam-dunk, although it appears more likely that the talented senior cornerback will likely make himself available for next year’s NFL draft.
“That’s going to be up to Bless, and what he feels is best for him,” Ash said about the player’s future at the collegiate level. “We’ll support him in whatever he feels his best for him and his future.”
