Mass shooting survivor, RB Mike Hollins, undergoes second surgery

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia running back Mike Hollins, who survived Sunday night’s mass shooting at the Culbreth Parking Garage, was recovering from a second surgery on Tuesday at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Hollins was reportedly shot in the back in the attack and had surgery to explore possible damage to his kidneys and abdomen.

Hollins was “doing well,” his family lawyer, Gordon McKernan of Baton Rouge, La., told Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated. McKernan said the ventilator was removed. The attorney also said that when Hollins’ mother, Brenda, visited with her son Monday, that he wrote on a piece of paper, “How are my three teammates?”

Virginia football coach Tony Elliott was a few minutes late to Tuesday’s 3:30 p.m. press conference, having spent some time visiting Hollins’ family at the hospital.

“I’ve said this publicly before, and his family is aware of this … I’m hard on Mike because Mike has a ton of potential,” Elliott said. “What I’ve seen out of him is a very workman mentality and engaging the discipline and the structure, which has resulted in improvements in his play down the stretch. But he always has a smile on his face.

“He is very inquisitive. He is one of those guys that will ask you serious questions. He is a guy that does what you ask him to do. He has a big personality and I think he’s a young man that is fully invested in this institution, this program. He is a guy that I’ve seen really start to kind of come into his own from a leadership standpoint.”

Hollins has played significant time since the Miami game three weeks ago, a game in which he had a 64-yard pass reception. He had 16 rushing attempts against North Carolina.

Elliott has told media all season long that he has pushed the Baton Rouge native because he believed Hollins had another gear.