LARGO, Md. — In football, players say teammates can become like family. When 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin shockingly collapsed on the field after making a tackle during Monday night football, the whole family was hurting.
John Morgan III, a Prince George's County native and DeMatha High School graduate, played with Hamlin at the University of Pittsburgh. He was watching Monday's game on television from his home in Largo when he saw his friend suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.
“I just wanted him to get up," Morgan said. "He's a guy that puts his all into it -- and to see him laying on the ground like that.... I was like 'any other guy, but not him.'"
Morgan said it's tough to feel helpless while anxiously waiting out the uncertainty about Hamlin’s condition. In the meantime, he's relying on memories of good times with his "brother." One in particular he remembers was a game against Pitt's rival, West Virginia. Hamlin, who graduated ahead of Morgan, was working to encourage all his fellow players throughout the game.
“He came and grabbed me, I remember it vividly," Morgan recalled. "He said 'you're one of the hardest workers I know.' He said 'I know at this moment in time you have an opportunity to make a big play and change the game.'"
Morgan, Hamlin and the rest of the Pittsburgh Panthers went on to beat West Virginia that game. Now, Morgan has finished his college career at the University of Arkansas, after transferring from Pittsburgh. It's a career that Morgan says Hamlin helped him see through.
“I want the world to know he's just a great guy," Morgan said. "I call him the neighborhood hero, because that’s what he is to the city of Pittsburgh and the state of Pennsylvania. It speaks to what kind of person he is that people want to follow him."
It was no surprise, Morgan said, that the brotherhood of players on both teams put Hamlin’s condition ahead of the game Monday night. In a chilling scene, Hamlin was administered CPR on the field, while surrounded by teammates, some of them in tears, while they shielded him from public view. He was hurt while tackling Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins on a seemingly routine play.
After some uncertainty about whether play would resume, the game was eventually suspended. The NFL announced Tuesday the Bills-Bengals game won't be resumed this week and there's been no decision on the future status of the game.