Colton Comer was welcomed with open arms back to the sidelines on Friday night.
The 15-year-old Stevensville Lakeshore football player, who suffered a fractured spine during an incident at a junior varsity game last week, reunited with his Lancers teammates during a varsity football game on Friday as Lakeshore battled St. Joseph at the Bears’ Dickinson Stadium.
Comer attended Friday’s game using a wheelchair, as one of his teammates guided him over to the sidelines, where he watched his Lancers teammates fall to St. Joseph, 35-14.
“The first time taking the field since!” said Comer’s mother, Courtney Mims, in a Facebook post, which has since been deleted. “That’s my big baby!”
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Comer is just over a week removed from being injured during last Thursday’s junior varsity football game, as a Kalamazoo Central player took him to the ground, got back up and body slammed up –– which sent Comer to the hospital, where doctors discovered his spine was fractured in two places.
According to a story done by the New York Post, parents from St. Joseph organized Comer’s return to the gridiron, and held a prayer around the injured teen outside the Bears’ football stadium.
“Couldn’t be more blessed with my SJ moms for letting me know they organized this,” Courtney Mims said. “They gave us as moms this sweet spot before the game and their boys, who have also been so sweet!”
After the game, Comer was given a warm welcome by his teammates.
“Our communities are beautiful! This is what it’s all about,” Mims said. “He’s (Colton) an angle and his teammates are the best example of young men I’ve seen in a long time.”
The incident, which was captured on video by Colton’s mother, Courtney Mims, has since stirred plenty of controversy worldwide –– with millions of views reported across the country.
Kalamazoo Central High School has placed disciplinary action on the K-Central player, stating that the act was “egregious” in a statement released earlier in the week and noting that the behavior of the student is “unacceptable and does not reflect the values of sportsmanship, respect and integrity that KPS expects from student-athletes, coaches and the entire school community.”
During a school board meeting that took place on Sept. 25, Melrose Hensley, the father of the Kalamazoo Central player who injured Comer, spoke and pleaded for understanding –– begging the district to “not take my son’s education.”
According to a story done by News Channel 3, Kalamazoo Central Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Darrin Slade said that the student’s punishment is in line with the district’s discipline policies, noting that the policies are some of the strongest in the state.
Due to student privacy laws, the specific disciplinary action has not been released by Kalamazoo Central.
Rhys Biske, a teammate of the K-Central player, took to social media last week to share his perspective on the incident –– citing that it’s led to hostility against his school and coaches.
“The decision my teammate made and what he did to the Lakeshore player was not all right,” Biske said via a six-minute TikTok video. “It was an illegal move and it had no place. I’m not going to try to defend that. It was a horrible decision.”
Biske concluded the video saying that he doesn’t defend what his teammate did, but that his team and school are not “violent people.”
“I still will always defend him because he’s a good kid and he’s human,” Biske said. “He made a mistake and is deserving of love and not to be hated on. He does not deserve prison time and the rest of the team and coaches will stand by him and support him because he’s a human being.”
The Michigan High School Athletic Association released a statement last week stating that Kalamazoo Central took this matter “very seriously” with action that far exceeded what the MHSAA would otherwise require in unsportsmanlike and dangerous behaviors.