BATON ROUGE - Injured Southern Jaguars football player, Devon Gales, continues to exhibit the same kind of grit he brought to the practice and gameday gridiron at The Bluffs, but the new fans he's impressing are hospital officials and staff at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center.

Less than a month has passed since Gales suffered several fractures in his neck during a Sept. 26 game against the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs football team. After making it through the Sept. 27 surgery, the long road to rehabilitation was the next thing on the young man’s radar. Doctors anticipate he has at least eight weeks of hard work before him.

The Southern University and Capital Area community as a whole poured out their respect and well-wishes in the wake of the former Central High School wide receiver’s tragic injury. The University of Georgia even got in on the good will as they footed the bill to fly Gales’ parents from Baton Rouge out to Georgia so they could be with their son after the injury.

Georgia head coach Mark Richt and another staff have visited the injured third-year Sophomore in the hospital, and the coach even encouraged the UGA community to pitch it to the Devon Gales Fund that was originally set up by Southern University to aid the Gales family in their time of need. That fund is aimed at providing Gales and his family with the financial assistance they need to cover medical expenses associated with the severe injury.

It isn’t too late to donate to the cause, by visiting the Devon Gales Fund website or mailing words of support or a financial contribution to:

Southern University System Foundation
c/o Devon Gales Fund
PO Box 9562
Baton Rouge, La. 70813 

The Jaguars will play host to Prairie View A&M this coming Saturday with a 4 p.m. kickoff time.