D-Lineman Ondre Pipkins Suffers Neck Injury

Head football coach Brady Hoke released a statement today (Friday, August 17th) that confirmed a neck injury suffered by freshman defensive lineman Ondre Pipkins, the third significant Wolverine injury this fall. The good news is Pipkins seems to be okay with no serious damage done to the neck, and, according to coach Hoke's statement: "He had movement in all extremities and was taken to U-M Health System for precautionary reasons and evaluation." That is obviously great news, but there has been no time table set for his return.

Pipkins was competing for a back up spot behind nose tackle Will Campbell through the fall, and fellow teammates of his said he was doing a very nice job of competing and that he was learning very quickly in practice.
Ondre Pipkins was interviewed earlier with Hoke's Mad Magicians and showed a great amount of enthusiasm for Michigan. You can read that interview here. Many will tell you that is the best asset Pipkins brought with him to the program. On top of that, he was one of the highest ranked recruits coming into Brady Hoke's first class as head coach at Michigan.

Everyone was very excited for the amount of talent Pipkins was bringing to the Michigan defense because of his passion, speed, strength. Obviously, it would be unreasonable to predict when Pipkins might return for the Wolverines at this point. But he still has a very bright future ahead of him on the Michigan defense, and his return is already being very much so anticipated.

Ondre Pipkin's neck injury is the third significant injury suffered by a Wolverine this fall. Freshman defensive end Chris Wormley tore his ACL, and WR Roy Roundtree had knee surgery. Roundtree is expected to return for the September 1st opener against Alabama.

Our thoughts and prayers will surely be with Ondre over the coming days and weeks and we hope for a speedy recovery.  This is one of those situations that show the things that are more important than football.  Best of luck to Ondre on his recovery and we will keep you updated.