Three football players injured in car accident
Three Utah State University football players are not seriously injured after rolling their vehicle just outside of Las Vegas, Sunday.
Defensive back Eddie Gilmore, kicker Jarrod Jakubiak and starting safety Antonio Taylor had gone home to California for the weekend and were driving back when their car went off the side of the road and rolled.
Gilmore, a native of Claremont, Calif., was driving and fell asleep at the wheel, losing control of the car.
“I still can’t believe it really happened,” Jakubiak said. “I’m just glad everyone’s OK. It’s just a shock.”
Even though car accidents happen every day, Jakubiak, a native of Ontario, Calif., said that he never thought it was something that would happen to him.
“We’re very thankful that they’re all OK,” Utah State head football coach Mick Dennehy said. “It sounds like it could have been a real tragedy. We’re lucky.”
Jakubiak said he had his eyes closed and was drifting off to sleep when he felt the car hit the rumble strips on the side of the road.
When he opened his eyes, the car was swerving and he said the next thing he knew it was heading off the road and into the dirt.
Jakubiak added that as soon as the car hit the dirt, he knew it was going to roll because it was going sideways. He said he just braced himself for the impact.
“On the first roll, I kind of hit my head and my hand out on the ground,” he said. “All I remember is feeling the dirt hit my hair and my head, then I pulled back in and I looked to see if Eddie was OK and I looked back to see if Tony was OK and he was gone.”
Taylor, who had been sleeping in the back seat, was ejected from the car when it rolled. He suffered the most serious injuries of the three and had to be flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital.
“The first thing, we both hopped out of the car,” Jakubiak said. “[Taylor] was laying about three to five feet next to the car. Eddie found him and I ran around [to them].”
With Taylor still conscious, Jakubiak said he ran to a call box and called the paramedics. He said that the car landed between Taylor and a call box, so he was able to get to one quickly.
The paramedics were the first to arrive at the scene of the accident. They took all three players to a place where the helicopter to land and waited there. Jakubiak said that it took more than an hour for the Nevada Highway Patrol to arrive on the scene.
“Antonio was asleep [in the back],” Jakubiak said, “and I was just about to go to sleep. I might have fallen asleep. I wasn’t sure if just had my eyes closed or if I was asleep. And Eddie just nodded off and then we lost control of the car.”
Taylor, who has been recovering in California and will fly back in to Utah Wednesday, will not be playing Saturday against Mid-Tennessee State. Gilmore will also be out with an shoulder injury. Jakubiak, however, said that he will be ready to play.
“[I feel] pretty good,” he said. “Just a little shaky. I’ve just got to get it out of my head.”
“It’s unfortunate that we lost two guys,” Dennehy said. “It’s one of those things where you know you’ve got to move on. They’ll be OK and they’ll all be back at some point in time and we’re just glad that they’re going to have the opportunity to be back.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu