Tennessee State player upgraded from critical to stable condition

Tennessee State linebacker Christion Abercrombie has been upgraded from critical to stable condition after sustaining a head injury Sept. 29.

University officials said Sunday night that the linebacker has been off a ventilator for over 24 hours and is breathing on his own.

The linebacker has been in the neurological intensive care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center since Sept. 29. Abercrombie went to the sideline during the first half of the Tigers’ loss to Vanderbilt, told trainers he had a headache, then required oxygen on the sideline before being taken to the hospital with a head injury for emergency surgery.

The linebacker redshirted at Illinois in 2016 and played 11 games in 2017 before transferring to Tennessee State. He went into last week’s game as the Tigers’ second-leading tackler and was credited with five tackles and a quarterback hurry before being injured.

Abercrombie’s parents were at the game. His mother, Staci, said they didn’t notice anything was wrong with their son until his roommate asked them to come down as text messages hit their phones. By the time they arrived at the hospital three-tenths of a mile from the stadium, Christion already was being prepped for surgery.