Navy football player Will McKamey remains hospitalized and in coma, two days after collapsing during a spring practice session and being airlifted to a local hospital to have emergency surgery performed on his brain. It’s the second on-field incident the running back has suffered; during his high school days, he suffered a similar episode during a game.
In light of that, some have wondered what the player was even doing on a football field. In a lengthy statement released through the service academy Monday, McKamey’s family explained that the sophomore underwent extensive medical testing and that neither they nor the Naval Academy would’ve allowed him to continue his playing career if they thought he was at risk.
“Since his prior accident in 2012 Will has been seen by four different neurosurgeons, and had 4-6 CAT scans and MRI’s to rule out any issue and clear him for contact,” the statement read. “After his prior incident he went without any contact for over nine months to just be safe. We feel obviously there is more going on in his brain than we could have ever detected.
“I want to be clear that the Navy football program nor us as his parents would have ever allowed him to be in a dangerous situation. We don’t know why this happened, we can only have faith that God’s plan is the perfect plan and only He can be the ultimate healer and source of comfort for all of us during this time!”
McKamey missed the Tennessee high school playoffs in 2012 due to the first incident, but was still named the state’s Mr. Football. The family stated that "[t]he Navy coaches have poured through the films of practice and seen nothing more than Will carrying the football normally,” adding “that Will did not sustain a bad hit or unusual or extreme contact in practice Saturday.” That day was the first day of practice in pads.
McKamey’s status has not changed since the family issued a statement Sunday, but they see that as a positive sign.
“Today Will’s condition is very much the same as yesterday,” the family said. “We are counting this as a blessing due to the fact that the brain is very slow in the healing process. We are in for a long road. Please understand that ‘no change’ is still expected and seen as a blessing at this point. We are taking it day at a time.”
The family will be setting up a website to allow them to keep everyone as informed as possible on McKamey’s progress.