CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WAVY) – It’s been four months since a shooting that killed three University of Virginia football players and injured two other students, Mike Hollins and Marlee Morgan. This week, Hollins, a running back for the Cavaliers, returned to the practice field.
The shooting occurred on the UVA grounds in November. The victims were on a charter bus full of students returning from a class field trip to Washington, D.C.
Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry were killed in the tragedy. 22-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones, a UVA student and former member of the football team, has been charged in the shooting.
After the shooting, the team chose not to play the rest of its scheduled games.
Hollins, No. 7, was a full participant in the first day of the Cavaliers’ spring practice on Tuesday.
“As I told the guys, we’re not moving one, but we do have a responsibility to move forward and we believe the spirits and the legacies of the three young men that we lost would want us to move forward,” said head coach Tony Elliott.
It’s amazing to see Hollins’ recovery, considering just a few months ago he was in the hospital on a ventilator.
Coach Elliott said he is really proud of Hollins.
“Mike looked good today. Mike was full go. Obviously, you want to be smart with his progression back in, but he did everything in winter workouts, so he was full go today,” coach Elliott said. “I’ve been so impressed with him, just all the way around, physically, how his body has recovered, but more importantly just how spiritually, mentally he has responded and prepared himself to come back out here and compete.”
The Cavaliers’ Spring Game in Charlottesville is scheduled for April 15 at 2 p.m.