Alabama defensive lineman Dakota Ball will not be able to play in his team’s College Football Playoff game against Washington on Saturday, and he has no one to blame but himself for that.
Ball, with his hand heavily bandaged, confessed to reporters on Thursday that he accidentally blew his own index finger off with a shotgun earlier this month. The accident happened when he was hunting and running ATVs with his friend before bowl practices began.
“I shot my finger off with a 12-gauge shotgun,” Ball said, per Michael Casagrande of AL.com. “It’s completely gone. I shot it right at the knuckle and blew it off. I was tying a rope around the barrel and around the stock to keep the shotgun from falling out of my lap. I was tying rope around the barrel and it just went off. I didn’t have my hand on the trigger.”
Ball said he initially feared that he shot through his entire hand, but he realized what had happened when he looked down to see his index finger dangling by a piece of skin.
Doctors said there was no chance of saving it.
“At first it wasn’t painful but once we got to the hospital, that’s when it started hurting — when my adrenaline started wearing off,” Ball explained. “Then it got pretty bad. They had to go down and cut the bone out, two inches down.”
Ball was mostly a reserve player for Alabama, so he is unlikely to play football at the next level. He said he’ll continue to hunt in the future, though he will take extra precaution.
The senior did not unwrap his hand to show reporters, though we can imagine the damage probably looked very similar to this. That, kids, is why you don’t play with guns.
Photo: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
