Ole Miss TE DaMarcus Thomas airlifted after practice injury

[img]https://s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/752/4/10004752.jpg?fit=bounds&crop=620:320,offset-y0.50&width=620&height=320[/img]
                                                                 DaMarcus Thomas (Photo: OMA)

Ole Miss true freshman tight end DaMarcus Thomas was seriously injured Monday morning during the Rebels practice. Thomas had to be airlifted from Baptist Oxford. A visibly shaken Lane Kiffin broke the news during his regularly scheduled Monday press conference.

Kiffin came back after the completion of his press conference with an update, telling reporters that he had been advised that Thomas had some movement and feeling in his body prior to being placed on the helicopter. The exact nature of the injury was not shared.

"We had a player potentially severely injured," Kiffin began. "DaMarcus Thomas was hit and hasn't moved since. The helicopter is on its way now. Obviously, I'll answer questions. I've got to do my job about the game, whatever it is, but nothing seems very important right now. He never moved and he hasn't. There's no feeling in his entire body. We've informed the family. I don't know. I don't know if I've seen anything as hard or like that, personally."

Thomas is a 6-1, 245-pounder out of Whatley, Ala., who signed with Ole Miss out of the 2020 class. He played in the Rebels' 54-21 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday.

"We were all out there waiting for the ambulance initially, and then the ambulance came and they said they need to airlift him. I was around the players. I just came in to knock this out and I'm going back out there...All the players stayed out there," said Kiffin.

Ole Miss running back Jerrion Ealy spoke to the media prior to school officials canceling the press event where several other players were set to take the podium.

"It was just a normal football play," Ealy said. "A freak accident. We're praying for DJ (DaMarcus Thomas). Hopefully he has a speedy recovery. We're just all praying for him, and we really hope to have him back soon.

"...We didn't really know what happened or what's happening right now. We're all just in shock, you know. I can't really say too much about it...just shock. Just one of those freak accidents that happens on the football field that you only hear about, you just never really see. It's kind of just eye-opening."

Kiffin described things as they happened.

"We were a little over halfway through practice. You started to move the ball up and keep going like you do and go back to check on him, but this is...I don't think there was any way to practice, you know, seeing what we saw. I don't think anybody's even thinking about it (practice)...I could care less (about practice)," Kiffin said.

Ole Miss already had a day off scheduled for Tuesday. The Rebels have an open date this weekend.

"This is not something normal. To hear a player that you recruited...they keep touching him, 'Do you feel this? Do you fell this?' And he keeps saying no. You're thinking of the kid. I don't know. That's the first time I've seen something...I just called Knox's mom and said I could care less if he ever plays football, ever, after seeing that," Kiffin said.

"Obviously, hopefully, this is some severe stinger. I did ask the medical staff and they said that that does happen sometimes. I'm just praying that that's what it is."

The Ole Miss Spirit will continue to monitor this breaking story..

SOURCE: Johnson, David. "Ole Miss TE DaMarcus Thomas airlifted after practice injury," OMSpirit.com, 2 November 2020, https://247sports.com/college/ole-miss/Article/Ole-Miss-tight-end-DaMarcus-Thomas-airlifted--154104074/

Thank God!