South Alabama tight end DJ Thomas-Jones is back in Mobile and “doing great” two days after collapsing on the sideline during a game at Louisiana, Jaguars coach Kane Wommack said Monday.
Play was halted some 15 minutes early in the third quarter of South Alabama’s 20-17 victory at Cajun Field as Jaguars trainers and on-site medical personnel attended to Thomas-Jones, who was lying flat on his back before being placed on a stretcher and taken from the field by motorized cart. He was transported to Ochsner Lafayette General Hospital, where he was treated and released a short time later, Wommack said.
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“DJ’s doing great,” Wommack said on his weekly radio show on Mobile’s SportsTalk 99.5 FM. “He was discharged from the hospital a little bit later (Saturday) and was back with us by the time we made it back (to Mobile) on the bus as well. He’s doing fine, doing well.
“We’ll certainly keep looking at everything just to make sure that he’s going be OK in the long term. But we’re certainly glad that he was able to make it back with us.”
Asked about the situation on Monday’s Sun Belt coaches teleconference, Wommack declined to go into specifics as to the cause of Thomas-Jones’ medical emergency, citing privacy concerns. Thomas-Jones had similar incidents during his playing career at both Saraland High School and Ole Miss, from where he transferred to South Alabama prior to the 2022 season.
Following the Ole Miss episode, which happened during practice in November 2020, Thomas-Jones was airlifted to a Memphis hospital and held overnight for observation. As in Saturday’s incident, he initially had no feeling in his extremities before recovering shortly thereafter.
Wommack said Monday he was unsure as to when Thomas-Jones — who has seven receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown this season — might return to action. The Jaguars (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) have an open date this week before hosting Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 15, and players are off until practice on Wednesday.
“We’ll have those conversations here in the near future about what that’s going to look like,” Wommack said regarding Thomas-Jones’ football status. “… I don’t really want to get into details with DJ, and to be honest with you, I’m not in a position to be able to say exactly what was going on in that moment. We’ll have some more information on that as we get back here together on Tuesday and see what the plan for him is going forward.
“He was in great spirits, once we got back to the field house (in Mobile). He and I talked for a few minutes. He looked good, felt good. Obviously, it was huge scare. … We’ll do some checkup things on him as well, just to make sure that he’s in a good position.”
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