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Ex-Sponger paralyzed

TARPON SPRINGS -- Former Tarpon Springs wide receiver Corey Burrowes is paralyzed from the neck down and might undergo further surgery today following an accident last week during a football practice.

Burrowes, a student at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Ga., was participating in a drill against a defensive back Thursday night when he lost his footing and hit the defender head-first, according to coach Bert Williams.

Burrowes injured the fifth cervical vertebra in his neck.

"I initially hoped he got a bad stinger, but it was obvious it was more than that," said Williams, who was 5 feet away watching the drill during the team's first practice in full pads.

"It's a serious injury, but (doctors) are hopeful that there is not much damage to the (spinal) cord."

Williams said Burrowes, who never lost consciousness after the injury, reported feeling "sensations" in his arms and legs but has not regained motor control. He was to be transferred Monday from a hospital in Macon, Ga., to the Shepherd Center for spinal cord injury in Atlanta.

"The best-case scenario is that it's bruised, and with time he'll regain what he lost," Williams said.

Burrowes, a 2001 Tarpon graduate, was slated to start at wideout for the junior college. At Tarpon Springs, he was a standout senior, tying for second in the county with seven touchdown catches in 2000 and earning honorable mention on the Times All-County team.

Spongers coach Don Davis, who along with a half-dozen former Tarpon players spent the weekend with Burrowes in the hospital, said Burrowes is extremely well-liked and that word of his situation spread quickly at school.

"It's pretty touchy around here right now as far as emotions," Davis said. "There's an outpouring of concern."

Students put together a video of well-wishes to be delivered to Burrowes in the hospital, and Davis said a trust fund would be started soon.

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