Paige injures neck after hitting brick wall, released from hospital

Tennessee receiver Ahmad Paige was taken by ambulance to UT Medical Center with a neck injury after hitting a brick wall in the southeast corner of Neyland Stadium during Friday night’s practice.

The sophomore was strapped to a backboard as coaches ended practice early.

“Our thoughts are obviously with Ahmad,” UT coach Lane Kiffin said. “Any neck injury you have to be very safe with.

“He does have movement in his legs and his arms so that’s great obviously. We’re being very safe with it and getting him over to the emergency room now.”

Paige was released from UT hospital after tests came back normal.

He is expected to make a full recovery, UT athletic trainer Jason McVeigh said in a statement.

Players knelt around Paige before exiting the stadium.

“He was talking and communicating,” Kiffin said. “Obviously, he was a little bit scared, just when you have that many people around you and (they) put you in a brace.

“That’s a scary thing and they tell you not to move. So he was a little bit scared. Things seemed as good as they could at that point.”

Paige was injured trying to reel in a pass on a fade route from Jonathan Crompton.

There is little space between the corner of the end zone and the brick façade that was put in place before last season as part of UT’s renovations to Neyland Stadium.

The injury cast a pall on an otherwise positive night for the Vols as they practiced in front of approximately 2,000 enthusiastic fans.

Practice Report: Kiffin said he was pleased with the scrimmage, in particular UT’s defense.

“I thought the defense really, really picked it up and came with a lot of energy,” Kiffin said. “I thought they took it to the offense a little bit early, especially in the passing game with the pass rush.”

A chess match ensued. In order to slow UT’s pass rush, the offensive coaches countered with a battery of screen passes and relied more on the running game, led by tailback Montario Hardesty.

“I did think the offense ran the ball extremely well,” Kiffin said. “Hardesty had a ton of yards today, a lot of long runs. The guys did really well for him up front.”

Kiffin said Hardesty has been a leader in offseason conditioning and film study.

“It’s a great story anytime you have a guy that has worked so hard in the offseason,” Kiffin said. “He’s not been an issue at all. I think he was one of the first guys to buy in to what we were doing.”

Laps: Like quarterback B.J. Coleman on Thursday, Crompton was forced to run a lap around the field with center Josh McNeil following a fumbled snap on Friday.

“The ball is so valuable,” Kiffin said. “Turnover margin is how you win and lose games more than anything else that you do.”

Kiffin implements the punishment for any player who fumbles a snap or is called for offsides or a false start.

Some boos were heard from the crowd when Crompton turned the ball over, likely a carryover from UT’s disappointing 5-7 season in 2008.

“You’re seeing them in their third day in the system so we have a lot of practices left just in the spring,” Kiffin said. “The last thing we want to do is say somebody can’t do something right now.”

Vinson’s Shoulder: Cornerback Brent Vinson left practice early with a bum left shoulder. Vinson could have returned and is thought to be fine.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!