Oklahoma Football Player Recovering After Gameday Head Injury

A Wesleyan Christian High School football player is improving after being critically injured during a football game Friday night.

Ben Hamm has a serious head injury and school leaders say his supporters are praying non-stop for his recovery.

Hamm is still in the hospital in a coma and has a long road to recovery. However the pressure and bleeding on his brain have gone down, so his supporters say the prayer is working.

Athletic Director, Casey Parham, said, on and off the field, number 28 is a leader.

"It is a definite void the school is feeling and are looking forward to his restoration," Parham said.

In a collision sport, Hamm is one of the best linebackers, serving as a team captain. Under the Friday night lights, the Wesleyan Christian school football leader took a big hit.

Coaches hope game footage will help them figure out what happened.

Parham said, "There wasn't a specific hit that got him hurt, it was kind of a delayed reaction, I think. That's some of our uncertainty."

Even after the blow, Hamm was able to walk off the field but was soon rushed to the hospital in critical condition; doctors performed a four-hour surgery to detach a portion of his skull to relieve pressure on his brain.

As he recovers, students and parents are hurting.

"I know tragedy isn't easy to handle, or crisis. There's no real good formula to do that," Parham said.

But, from the beginning to now, the prayers have continued.

Ben is still in a coma, and doctors said the calm and quiet is vital to help him heal on his own.

Parham said with a successful surgery and the pressure on Ben's brain going down, those prayers seem to be working.

For now, he said, they'll keep praying and learn from this tragedy.

"We are doing our very best to educate and train our team, our coaches, how to handle that kind of collision sport, how to recognize those symptoms when it comes to those sports," Parham said.

School representatives said the support has been amazing. The community has shown support, but rival schools have also reached out to wish Hamm well.