Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

Injured East St. Louis player continues to show progress

ST. LOUIS -- East St. Louis linebacker Demond Hunt Jr. ate his first meal and did pushups and leg exercises Friday, a week after suffering a head injury during a football game in Collinsville.

Hunt was listed in fair condition late Friday afternoon at Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis.

The East St. Louis High School junior dined on strawberries, grilled toast and apple juice according to his mother, Shanai McLorn.

"Demond had a really good day today (Friday). He said he was hungry and that's a good sign," McLorn said. "Every couple of hours ,he'll say that he's got a bad headache and they've got him on pain medication. He had an MRI done yesterday (Thursday) and we're still awaiting the results from that. But his spirits were up today."

Hunt was injured late in the second quarter of the Flyers' win over Collinsville on Oct. 13. He has been at Cardinal Glennon since early last Saturday.

Cardinal Glennon spokesman Bob Davidson said Hunt had his first session of physical therapy Friday.

"I went into his room a few minutes ago and Demond was sound asleep. From what his mother said, the physical therapy session wore him out pretty good," Davidson said. "The report I got said he did 10 pushups and he did some exercises with his legs. They (the therapists) gave him a good workout."

Contact reporter Dean Criddle at 239-2665 or dcriddle@bnd.com.