An Ole Miss football player suffered a serious injury on Monday, one that left him motionless and without feeling for several minutes, according to coach Lane Kiffin.

Tight end Damarcus Thomas was taken to a hospital via helicopter. According to a statement from school’s athletic department Monday afternoon, the evaluations on Thomas “have all been positive to this point. He regained movement in all his extremities, and the physicians are optimistic.”

Practice was immediately stopped after the injury was sustained. The entire team, along with the coaches, waited by Thomas’ side until an ambulance arrived.

Coach Lane Kiffin told reporters he hoped it was just a “severe stinger,” adding that Thomas regained some movement and feeling before being taken to the hospital.

“I did ask them, the medical staff,” Kiffin said. “They said that that does happen sometimes. I’m just praying that that’s somehow what it is.”

Kiffen said he had never seen an injury like it.

“They keep touching him going ‘Do you feel this? Do you feel this?’ He keeps saying no,” Kiffin said. “And you’re thinking about your own kid. I don’t know. That’s the first time I’d seen something where I just called [Kiffin’s son] Knox’s mom and said I couldn’t care less whether he ever plays football ever after seeing that.”

Jerrion Ealy, an Ole Miss running back, described it as a “normal football play,” but also a “freak accident.”

“We’re all just in shock,” Ealy said. “I can’t really say too much about it because it’s just shocking. It’s one of those freak accidents that happens on a football field that you only hear about and you never see. It’s kind of eye-opening.”