Sources: OpTic Texas targeting Prolute to stand-in for injured iLLeY, General expected to be pushed back to the bench

OpTic Texas is targeting Challengers player Prolute to temporarily fill in for iLLeY, who’s recovering from a lingering thumb injury. The move is expected to send General back to the bench, sources tell Dot Esports.

A week prior to the 2022 Call of Duty League Pro-Am Classic, OpTic Texas’ head coach Rambo announced that iLLeY would be sidelined for the event due to an infection in his thumb, an issue that iLLeY had been dealing with since Major Two in Minnesota.

But just a few hours before General was expected to make his season debut, Rambo announced that iLLeY had made progress and would go ahead and play for OpTic. General was pushed back to the substitute position.

OpTic Texas, with iLLeY, went on to defeat Toronto Ultra’s European Challenger team. ILLeY finished the four map series with a 1.23 kill/death ratio, 79 kills, and close to 9,000 damage⁠ but was later sidelined again before their second match started that same day, shuffling General back into the starting lineup.

With General in the lineup, OpTic Texas qualified for bracket play and went on to eliminate Atlanta FaZe in the quarterfinals. They ultimately placed top four after a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Thieves in the Pro-Am Classic semifinals.

ILLeY was expected to rejoin OpTic’s starting lineup this weekend, but according to Shotzzy, he’s still having issues with his thumb and probably won’t be making his return as soon as some thought. Instead, OpTic will likely look at signing Prolute as a temporary fill-in, once again pushing General to the bench, according to multiple sources.

Prolute has been competing in Challengers since 2020 and was crowned the North American Challengers champion during Cold War. Prolute was regarded as one of the better amateur players throughout that season and was voted the 14th best Challengers player by BreakingPoint.

If Prolute is signed, he’ll make his CDL debut against the Los Angeles Guerrillas on Friday, May 13 at 3:30pm CT. How long Prolute would retain his starting role is unknown.