LOGAN, Utah — A week after suffering cardiac arrest during spring practice, Utah State football player Josh Davis and team staff shared what happened during those frightening moments on the field in Logan.
"A week ago, I was lying on the field fighting for my life," said Davis at a press conference Thursday, "and now I'm able to walk into this room and talk to all of you."
On March 23, Davis collapsed inside Maverik Stadium during drills and was first transported to Logan Regional Hospital before before moved to McKay-Dee Hospital. A day later, he was updated to fair condition and the school shared a photo of him surrounded by family and Aggies head coach Blake Anderson
"Even at the hospital, [Josh] woke up once the doctors didn't expect that. And he sat up in the bed and started pulling out cords and taken everything off because he wanted, I think he wanted to get back to practice," said interim Athletics Director Jerry Bovee. "And they had to sedate him again because his will to be upright and moving was so strong."
Davis himself said he doesn't remember much in the days after his collapse, but some moments stuck with the 19-year-old.
"A lot of prayers, obviously, as guys were coming to visit me in the hospital," he recalled, "just kind of breaking down exactly what happened because obviously I wasn't really aware of much.
"So that kind of made me more aware of what happened and then just obviously seeing those guys afterwards has been awesome."
During the briefing, officials revealed that Davis had suffered a seizure-like medical episode a year ago. Now, following last week's issue, the redshirt freshman receiver knows he may not play football again, but appeared to be comfortable with that decision.
"The short answer for playing football in the future is probably not, but I'm kind of not really worried about that right now, just taking it slow, taking it day by day and we'll see what happens in the future," he said.
Utah State head athletic trainer Mike Williams said Davis was cleared to return to football about 3-4 weeks following his episode last year after a full cardiac exam with specialists that determined that everything was normal.
Davis's parents, Matt and Chrissy, thanked the Aggie family for all the support while their son was hospitalized.
"When you send your first kid away to college, it's always a little nerve-racking and then when it's an athlete, it's even more," said Matt. "So you're always worried who's watching them, who's taking care of them. And I can say to anybody that's watching this, that's not something you have to worry about at Utah State."
The Davis's announced the family would make a donation and set up an endowment for the Utah State Sports Medicine Team in honor of those who helped save the life of their son.
"I'll never forget Thursday for a lot of different reasons," shared head coach Blake Anderson. "Number one, as a head coach and a father, you don't want to see it happen. But the way everybody responded, the way God stepped in, the way Josh fought, the way every person did their job, the way the team responded around it."
Davis said despite his playing days likely being over, he says he'll continue to be around the team and support those who supported him during his darkest days.
"It'll be something that we'll never forget. I'm always going to be grateful to be a part of this Aggie family.
