Cuyler ‘Huke’ Garland is a newcomer to the OpTic Texas roster, but he’s the first member to shed light on why the team decided to drop two-year veteran Indervir ‘iLLeY’ Dhaliwal and pick up Challengers star Ghosty ahead of Major 3.
OpTic Texas has suffered an unprecedented amount of roster drama throughout the 2023 Call of Duty League season.
It started with the early offseason decision to drop iLLeY and Brandon ‘Dashy’ Otell, and so far has resulted in Scump’s retirement, benching for both Dhaliwal & Otell, and two new pickups, and an astounding Top 4 placing at Major 2.
Now, the roster looks to be settled with Huke, Shottzy, Dashy, and newcomer Ghosty. In an interview with H3CZ, Garland opened up about why the team needed even more new blood to move forward.
Huke & H3CZ talk about the decision to drop iLLeY & pick up Ghosty
At the start of February 12’s episode of The Eavesdrop, both H3CZ and Garland made it clear that the move wasn’t personal, with both speaking well of Dhaliwal.
A bit later in the show, Huke revealed that, from his perspective, it seemed like moving on was the best option for the squad as a whole.
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“I think we all love Inder, I think everyone does, it just seemed like to me, something that wasn’t needed, but was on people’s minds on the team for a while now,” he said. “[Shottzy, Dashy, and iLLeY] know a lot about how they work, and if they can work…I think it was just one of those needed moves for everyone to move on.”
Garland also had high praise for his new teammate. “I think moving forward with Ghosty, he’s someone that’s highly looked at right now. I’m excited to have him here. I’m excited for him to come on board to showcase what he’s got. I think he’s got it.”
He went on to say that Ghosty has nothing to worry about and that he believes the Challengers standout’s skill should be enough to justify the move at the end of the day.
OpTic Texas will be back in action during the upcoming Major 3 qualifiers with its third new-look squad of the season.