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.

'œDamarcus is doing well,'ť said Pat Jernigan, the Ole Miss assistant athletic director for sports medicine. 'œAll of his medical tests came back normal, and he is being released from the hospital.

'œOur physicians will be following up with him in the coming days for further evaluation.'ť

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

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.

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

'œThat'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.'ť

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

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