Ole Miss freshman tight end DaMarcus Thomas had to be airlifted to the hospital after sustaining a serious injury during practice on Monday that left him without any feeling in his body.
Coach Lane Kiffin was visibly upset as he met with reporters during his regularly scheduled news conference, saying Thomas was “potentially severely injured.”
“DaMarcus Thomas was hit and hasn’t moved since,” he said. “The helicopter is on its way now.
“Obviously I’ll answer questions. I’ve gotta do my job about the game or whatever it is, but nothing seems very important right now because he got hit and never moved and hasn’t had any feeling in his entire body.”
Kiffin said practice was stopped early.
Kiffin said he found himself thinking about his own kids as trainers were asking Thomas whether he could feel anything on his body and he said no.
“Hopefully this is some severe stinger,” he said. “I did ask the medical staff and they said that does happen sometimes. So praying somehow that’s what it is.”
All of the players remained on the field waiting for the airlift to arrive.
Thomas, 18, is from Whatley, Alabama. He’s appeared in five games this season.
“If you saw what I saw you wouldn’t be worried about whether he was going to play or not,” Kiffin said.
The three-star prospect signed with Ole Miss over offers from South Alabama, Southern Miss, Tulane and others.
Ole Miss is coming off a 54-21 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday, improving to 2-4 during Kiffin’s first season as head coach.