Perris Jones suffers serious injury, carted off field in Virginia-Louisville game

Perris Jones, a sixth-year senior running back for Virginia, was taken off the field on a stretcher during the third quarter of Thursday night’s game against No. 11 Louisville.

Jones appeared to take a violent helmet-to-helmet hit on a swing pass. He was met by three Louisville tacklers, one on either side and one directly in front of him. He lowered his helmet into the head-on tackler and his head snapped back upon contact. Jones fumbled the football and trainers immediately ran onto the field to tend to him.

The entire Virginia team was on the field with him as he was immobilized and loaded onto a cart to leave the field. Several Lousiville players were also around him.

Jones, a 5-foot-7 running back from Alexandria, has spent his entire career with the Cavaliers. He entered into Thursday night’s game as the team’s leading rusher, w

ith 386 yards and two touchdowns on 73 carries.

The play in question was a rather strange one. After the fumble, teammate Malik Washington picked up the loose ball at the 42-yard-line and ran it in for a touchdown. That put Virginia on top 21-14, capping a four-minute swing that saw Virginia score 21 unanswered points.

The Cavaliers were initially celebrating in the endzone until they realized what was going on behind the play.

It’s unclear the severity of Jones’ injury. UVa coach Tony Elliott will likely provide some form of an update to reporters after the game.