Memphis Football Player Karmelo Overton Collapses on Field After Being Hit by 2 Players

Mar. 15, 2025

Karmelo Overton of the Memphis Tigers.Photo:Karmelo Overton/Instagram

Karmelo Overton/Instagram

A University of Memphis linebacker was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed on the field during a game.

According to local Tennessee newspaperCommercial Appeal,redshirtfreshman Karmelo Overton collapsed on Friday, Nov. 8, during a home game against Rice University at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.

Karmelo Overton at the 2023 Liberty Bowl.Karmelo Overton/Instagram

Commercial Appealreported that Overton was taken to Regional One Medical Center in Memphis, and coach Ryan Silverfield said that he was awake and talking after his collapse. Memphis later took home the win against Rice, 27-20.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with him,” Silverfield told the outlet. “We’re still running some tests at a local hospital. But I do ask Tiger fans to please keep [Overton] in your thoughts and prayers.”

University of Memphis football did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

A Memphis Tigers football helmet.Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty

Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty

This isn’t the first time in recent months that a student athlete collapsed and had to be hospitalized after sustaining an injury on the field. Last month, a high school football player in Pennsylvania, Carter Mason,collapsed on the sideline following a “severe helmet hit.”

“After a severe helmet hit on the field, he made it to the sideline and collapsed. He has not regained consciousness and has a brain bleed,” his aunt Sandra Friend wrote in aGoFundMefundraiser after Mason was hospitalized.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, where the Memphis Tigers play.Joe Murphy/Getty

Joe Murphy/Getty

The high schooler’s aunt later revealed that he had sustained a severe traumatic brain injury and was not able to have “meaningful communication” and had been placed on a feeding tube while in inpatient rehab. By Oct. 22, she shared an update that things were “looking up” and that Mason was getting visits from his friends, coaches and family and undergoing therapy for his coordination and memory.

In September, a Florida high schooler, 18-year-old Chance Gainer,died after collapsing on the field during an away game. NBC affiliateWJHGreported that the teen did not have a pulse when EMTs arrived to the scene, before medical personnel eventually found one. Gainer was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Blountstown, Fla.

Back in February, a Furman University football player in Greenville, S.C.,died suddenly after collapsing during a team workout. Defensive tackle Bryce Stanfield, 21, “collapsed unexpectedly at a morning workout … He was taken to a local hospital, where he was placed on life support,” according to a letter from the school’s president.

source: people.com