Virginia Shooting Survivor Mike Hollins 'Blessed' To Play In Opener Vs. Tennessee For The 'Flame' Of 3 Teammates Killed

Virginia running back Mike Hollins has survived the survival.

He saw three teammates shot to death and was shot himself in the back at the Charlottesville campus following a field trip to Washington D.C. last Nov. 13. Then, the junior from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, embodied alone much of what the Marshall football program and community did as a whole after a plane crash on Nov. 14, 1970. That killed 75 people, including 37 members of the football team.

There were thoughts of not bringing back football at Marshall for the 1971 season, but the program in Huntington, Virginia, returned that next season and eventually blossomed. Hollins too, thought of not playing this season.

"It would've been easy, and everyone would have been OK with me not playing this season or sitting out because I just haven't recovered," he said at a press conference over the summer.

Virginia running back Mike Hollins survived being shot at the University of Virginia last Nov. 13. Three of his teammates, Devin Chandler, Lavel Tyler and D'Sean Perry were shot to death. Another student, Marlee Morgan, survived being shot. (Photo Courtesy of the University of Virginia).

But he decided to try to come back, and he has recovered somewhat. Midway through spring practice, he realized he made the right decision.

Mike Hollins first came back to Virginia football from two surgeries to remove a bullet and correct its damage to his insides. After a week in the hospital, he had to learn how to walk again, then run and be tackled again. He put back on 25 lost pounds. But the mental and emotional return proved more difficult than the physical.

"It took me a while," he said. "It was hard to come into these walls and the same locker room after seeing what I saw.”

Virginia Shooting Changed Mike Hollins’ Life Forever

"I don't know," Hollins said when asked why he returned to football for his senior season. "I just feel like enough was already taken from me. So, I just wasn't going to let football be taken from me as well. Simple. Seeing how life can be changed in just a split second and how things can be taken. It made me a lot more grateful. As soon as I got all the staples and stitches out, I was ready to come back."

Hollins - 5-foot-9 and back to 204 pounds - will be wearing No. 7 when the Cavaliers play No. 12 Tennessee at noon Saturday in Nashville at Nissan Stadium on ABC. The Volunteers are 28-point favorites.

"I can only imagine the emotion that'll be flowing through my body," he said. "I have no words because the spring game - it hit me like a sack of bricks. And I didn't expect it at all."

Virginia running back Mike Hollins gains yardage during a recent practice. (Photo Courtesy of the University of Virginia).

Hollins carried 11 times for 40 yards with a 1-yard touchdown in the spring game. He placed the ball on top of linebacker D'Sean Perry's name that was written in the end zone and pounded his fist there several times. Perry, a junior from Miami, was shot to death on Nov. 13 as he and other teammates and classmates exited a charter bus after a trip to Washington D.C.

Also killed were junior wide receiver Devin Chandler of Huntersville, North Carolina, and junior wide receiver Lavel Tyler Davis of Dorchester, South Carolina. Sophomore student Marlee Morgan was also shot, but survived.

"Without God, I wouldn't be here today," Hollins added. "And that's as clear to me now as it has ever been. Just a feeling you have, knowing he has a hand in your life and believing that I'm here for a reason after everything that happened."

Former Virginia Player Arrested, Awaits Trial

Police arrested Christopher Darnell Jones, a walk-on linebacker at Virginia in the 2018 season from Petersburg, Virginia, on three counts of second degree murder. He had a preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Because of the upcoming court proceedings in which he is expected to testify, Hollins cannot discuss specifics of the night of Nov. 13, 2022.

"I feel like we've all been through something very traumatic, and I made it out the other end," said Hollins. "And people are inevitably looking at me just to see how I turn out. I'll say I'm doing better - not great yet, but better. And I plan to keep getting better. I'm playing for God, my family, my teammates, the University of Virginia and the City of Charlottesville this season."

If Saturday's game is anything like the spring game, it will help Hollins' comeback that much more.

Michael Hollins Felt Free In Virginia Spring Game

"When I first touched the field and got to play, I just felt free," he said of the spring game. "Free from my mind and thinking about what's going on and the circumstances I'm in. It was a lot easier just to play ball. That's what I felt. I must say I felt blessed because months before I was stuck in a hospital bed, and I didn't know what to expect. So, yes, blessed."

Hollins signed with Virginia in 2019 as the No. 25 prospect in Louisiana and No. 50 running back in the nation. He helped lead University High on the LSU campus to state championships in 2017 and '18. As a senior, he won the Warrick Dunn Award given by WAFB-TV that is named after the former Florida State star back from Baton Rouge.

He has gained 540 yards on 123 carries with seven touchdowns in three seasons with 24 receptions for another 197 yards. Hollins rushed eight times for 23 yards and caught three passes for 22 yards in Virginia's last game - a 37-7 home loss to Pittsburgh on Nov. 12. The Cavaliers' next two games against Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech were canceled because of the tragedy. They finished 3-7 with a 1-6 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia is expected to finish last or close to it in the ACC this season.

Hollins returns as a different man with a new perspective on football.

"Football as a whole has kind of shrunk," he said. "When I say that, it's like football is a vehicle to so many other avenues in my eyes now. It's not the end all be all, and it can't be. It is still my dream, but how many other ways can I use it to better myself off the field? Because you only have 48 games in your career. That's a complete change of perspective for me this season."

He doesn't see himself ever being the same.

"Well, I definitely won't ever return to my old self," Hollins said. "I'll always be carrying something with me from everything that happened. Just learning to accept that will be a lifelong journey. It's a constant battle of just acceptance. I just thank the Lord for allowing me to carry it."

Carrying for three former teammates who can't.

Virginia running back Mike Hollins is expected to play Saturday against Tennessee after surviving gun shot wounds last November in a campus shooting in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Lee Coleman via Getty Images)

"I'm looking forward to pushing farther than where I was before the incident for them," said Hollins.

Virginia coach Tony Elliott sees a new man.

"He's just gotten up every single day, and even through the tears and through the struggles, he's shown up," he said. "He's been there for his teammates, and he's not made anything about him."

When Hollins was shot, he had returned to the bus to try to help other victims. He originally had exited the bus without incident. Then he looked at Jones right in the eyes before being shot.

On that Sunday, Nov. 13, Hollis and his teammates and classmates from an African-American playwrights class went to Washington D.C. to see a play. They attended a 3 p.m. showing at the Atlas Performing Arts Center of Ifa Bayeza's "The Till Trilogy" about the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Drew, Mississippi in 1955.

Then they ate at a restaurant before returning home. Jones was at the play and at dinner. He was not in that class, but he was in a social justice course also taught by the same playwrights course professor, who invited him to attend the field trip. Just as the bus had pulled up at Culbreth Garage on The Grounds of campus in Charlottesville, Jones allegedly opened fire with targets, not randomly, police and witnesses have said.

"You'll never find the proper way to carry such a traumatic experience," Hollins said. "It will always weigh on you. There'll never be a day where you won't remember it, or feel something missing from your heart."

This is why Hollins looks forward to the season opener Saturday, and particularly the home opener on Sept. 9 against James Madison (Noon, ESPNU) on campus at Scott Stadium on The Grounds - one mile from the Culbreth Garage.

"I'm excited for what this season holds, not just for this team, but for this city and the university," he said. "Because we need football right now. It does something to the atmosphere - just the whole camaraderie of the university, the campus and The Grounds. It will uplift the three we lost just by seeing them up on the big screen. People will remember them. And I'm excited to add a little gas to their flame."

Wins and losses will not matter in this "show-up" season in Hollins' mind.

"I don't see a way that this season can be a failure no matter the record, no matter the ending as long as we're out there playing," Hollins commented. "We're doing their (the victims') legacy justice because we're HERE. So just showing up is enough. And I believe that. It's enough for them just to see us showing up. I'm ready for it. I have to face it head on."