College Football Player Defies the Odds to Walk on Field a Year After Spinal Injury

A college football player who suffered a life changing spinal injury in a 2018 game has defied the odds to walk on the field where he was injured.

Justus Edwards was a sophomore at Georgia’s Berry College when he suffered the life-changing injury as he played in a game at Center College in Kentucky. The Berry Vikings football team immediately rallied around Edwards, and a Go Fund Me page raised over $20,000 to help with the costs associated with his recovery.

Edwards said doctors gave him a slim chance of ever walking again, but he was determined to get back on his feet. On November 9, Edwards returned to Centre College’s Farris Stadium to walk on the spot where he was injured.

“The doctors told me I was paralyzed,” Edwards said in an address to the crowd after walking at Farris Stadium. "I told them I wasn’t. I told them that God healed. They told me I had a 20 percent chance of walking again. I told them I’m walking.

“I kept the faith. I kept believing. Every day, it was tough,” he said, later adding, “Trials and tribulations are gonna always come in this life. It’s how you look at it. Do you look at it as a defeat or an opportunity to get better?” Credit: Centre Athletics via Storyful