Future uncertain for Michigan basketball's Jaelin Llewellyn
Michigan lost Princeton grad transfer Jaelin Llewellyn for the season after he suffered a knee injury vs. Kentucky, and will now turn to freshman Dug McDaniel to run the show at point. Llewellyn’s teammates have vowed not to forget about him — McDaniel, in fact, gave him a shoutout after a recent win at Minnesota — and Llewellyn insisted Tuesday he’d do his part to be there for his brothers in any way possible.
That won’t be on the floor, of course. He can provide leadership, however, and that’s his plan.
“I’m doing well — just taking every day as it is and trying to get some strength going in my quads before surgery,” Llewellyn said in a zoom with reporters. “I’m just going to practices and being as supportive as I can.
“[The days since] have been all right — not too good, not too bad. I’m just trying to get through the beginning stages. My teammates have been great support for me and a lot of people have reached out and wished me well. It’s just the beginning of it, but I’m hopeful to keep working throughout this rehab process.”
Llewellyn felt his knee pop on a possession late in the shot clock during U-M’s loss to the Wildcats in London. He went to pull up for a shot and “knew right then” it was probably a torn ACL.
Shock was the initial reaction, along with pain. He immediately started to think about his future and the possibility of missing the season.
“It was definitely challenging because it’s not what I wanted from this year, and I wanted to be able to play the rest of the season with these guys,” Llewellyn said. “But I’ve been in a long rehab situation before so I’ll be able to bounce back. That first time, I tore my Achilles and then it was the middle of a pandemic.
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“It was challenging. I was working full-time and doing school online. I got through that, and I think this is another opportunity to go through something similar but with less going on. So … it’s an opportunity for me to learn from that first experience and take the good from it and try and improve on the bad days, as well.”
Llewellyn plans to be the “team’s biggest supporter” while he’s out, doing whatever’s asked of him. As for his future — he’s not sure if he’ll be back next season or not.
“I’m not really sure yet,” he said. “I’m still taking things day by day, because I’ve got a long road ahead of me and I don’t want to get too far ahead.”
Llewellyn averaged 7.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 8 games with the Wolverines this year.
