Ole Miss freshman DaMarcus Thomas was airlifted to the hospital during Monday morning practice after he became motionless and unresponsive to feeling in his body, head coach Lane Kiffin said in a press conference.
Kiffin said he was hit and could not move for a long period of time until he regained movement just before he was taken away in the helicopter. Thomas’s injury is still unknown.
Practice ended immediately as Kiffin and the team waited for the ambulance to arrive. Kiffin said he had never seen an injury like this before and referenced his own son during the presser.
“They keep touching him, going ‘Do you feel this? Do you feel this?’ He keeps saying no,” Kiffin said. “And you’re thinking about your own kid. I don’t know. That’s the first time I’d seen something where I just called Knox’s mom and said I couldn’t care less whether he ever plays football after seeing that.”
Teammate Jerrion Ealy said the team was in shock, stating the injury happened from a normal football play but with a “freak accident.”
“We are all just in shock,” Ealy said. “Can’t say too much about it — just shocked. One of those freak accidents you hear about but don’t usually see.”
The freshman tight end from Alabama played in five of the program’s six games this season but has no current statistics.
