Aubrey Burks taken to local hospital for neck injury, has movement in all areas
West Virginia star safety Aubrey Burks was carted off the field on Saturday night in the Mountaineers matchup vs. the Texas Christian Horned Frogs. He suffered what appeared to be a head or neck injury of some sort when trying to make a tackle on a punt return. Burks was then piled on by his teammates. The stretcher was called out, players from both teams gathered around, and were kneeling. The West Virginia Twitter page let fans know that he had been taken to the local hospital in Fort Worth for further evaluation and that additional updates will be made when available. Heading into halftime of Saturday night’s game, WVU head coach Neal Brown updated everyone on Burks’ status: “We hope and we pray that he’s going to be fine. He was alert, he had movement in all areas.”
West Virginia running back C.J. Donaldson, who had a scary situation of his own last year against the Texas Longhorns, was among one of the many players who were visibly emotional, per reports.
Aubrey Burks is one of the top-rated safeties in America
Burks thrives when he can get downhill and make plays on ball carriers. As a sophomore in 2022, he had 66 tackles — including 4.5 for a loss — in just 11 games. He had one interception and one forced fumble. Before the 2023 season, Burks was named as one of the Top 10 returning safeties in college football by Pro Football Focus.
In 2022, Burks earned All-Big 12 team honors from PFF, after he racked up 66 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble, and two pass breakups. In 2021 during his freshman season, the WVU safety also suffered a season-ending injury against TCU.
At halftime of Saturday’s matchup between West Virginia and TCU, the Horned Frogs led 21-14. Quarterback Garrett Greene had a 35-yard rushing touchdown and running back C.J. Donaldson had the other score for the Mountaineers.
After being whipped by a very talented Penn State team 38-15, West Virginia rattled off three straight wins. They barely survived against Texas Tech, 20-13. The Mountaineers needed a fourth-down stop on their own 12-yard line with 23 seconds left in the game to prevail against the Red Raiders.
West Virginia will face one of their toughest opponents of the season on Saturday, November 11th, as they face off against the Oklahoma Sooners in their final year in the Big 12 Conference.
On3’s Andrew Graham also contributed to this article.