Mississippi's Thomas airlifted to hospital after injury

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi freshman Damarcus Thomas was cleared for release after being airlifted to a Memphis hospital Monday following a practice injury.

“Damarcus is doing well,” said Pat Jernigan, the Ole Miss assistant athletic director for sports medicine. “All of his medical tests came back normal, and he is being released from the hospital.

“Our physicians will be following up with him in the coming days for further evaluation.”

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said earlier that Thomas initially didn't have “any feeling in his entire body.”

Kiffin said Thomas' family was called from the practice field. The freshman tight end from Whatley, Alabama, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and then airlifted to Memphis Regional Hospital.

Kiffin didn't specify how the injury occurred but said that Thomas took a hit. He said he hadn't been around that kind of injury situation personally.

“They keep touching him, do you feel this, do you feel that? And he keeps saying no,” the coach said. "And you’re thinking about your own kid. I don’t know.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen something where I just called (son) Knox’s mom and said I could care less whether he ever plays football after seeing that.”

Thomas had played in the past five games for Ole Miss but had not recorded a stat.

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