LOS ANGELES – Kirby Smart’s phone began to buzz not long after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s injury Monday night.
Smart was in the middle of breaking down TCU game tape with his coaching staff when longtime sports medicine director Ron Courson informed him of what happened to Hamlin. Courson told Smart that given the severity of the injury, he should address it with the team the following day.
Following an otherwise routine collision against the Cincinnati Bengals, Hamlin’s heartbeat stopped, and he needed to be resuscitated before being admitted to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center by ambulance.
“The very next morning, the first thing we did is we brought in a mental health specialist, we brought in an athletic trainer, we brought in a team chaplain, and we prayed,” Smart said. “We also addressed it from a mental health standpoint. And then Ron educated players on exactly what happened and how rare [it is], but it can happen and you have to have people in place to save lives. What an incredible job they did on the scene to make sure he has an opportunity to recover from it. So the education piece was important to us to ensure our players that safety measures are there.”
Thanks to those who responded immediately at Paycor Stadium, Hamlin is now breathing on his own and has communicated with his teammates. He posted on Instagram that he is thankful for the outpouring of support he has received this week.
For Georgia’s players this hit home, considering it occurred on a routine play in the game they love.
“It was scary. I didn't know what to think,” quarterback Stetson Bennett said. “Just waiting for more information. I think he's doing better now, which is really good. But, yeah, it was a freak accident. I still don't know exactly what happened, but super scary. You could see how shaken up all the players were, and so you knew something was different than when you've seen players on the field in the past. It looked a little bit more serious, and they called the game. So it was scary. You know, football is a really dangerous and violent sport, and I'm glad he is doing better.”
Safety Christopher Smith said he had just walked into his home and turned the Bills-Bengals game on when he saw the ambulance on the field. He checked Twitter and immediately realized how serious the situation was.
Smith said he’s praying for Hamlin’s family and hopes the young safety makes a full recovery.
“It just shows the kind of person he is. He won the game of life,” Smith said. “Like I said, that's what's important at the end of the day. He won the game of life. I'm happy that he's able to come to. Hopefully he can get back to himself.”
Following Courson’s discussion with him, Smart wanted to make sure his players knew they had the proper support system behind them.
“That's also probably the most misdiagnosed injury there is in sports, where people don't realize what's happened,” Smart said. “And they did a great job there, the Buffalo organization, to save his life. We just want our kids to feel comfortable with it. I'm glad I had people on my staff who came to me to say we need to address it. It brought a lot of peace to the players.”
Defensive line coach Tray Scott noted that the staff actually prepares for such worst-case scenarios.
"Every off-season, they make the coaches and everyone on staff go through strenuous CPR training. So if anything happened to my guys right now, I'm not going to hesitate a beat. 'Hey, you go get the AED, I'll do this, you call 911.'"
