OGDEN, Utah -- A Utah State Football player thought the biggest challenge of his life was making the team, but now he's undergoing a much more serious challenge in trying to stay alive.
Twenty-one-year-old Brady Holt has been in critical condition since Saturday, when he was involved in a rollover crash in Box Elder County.
Earlier this year Brady made the Utah State football team as a freshman walk on. To his family, Holt seemed unstoppable on and off the field.
"You would look at him and you would say, OK he's kind of a scary looking guy,’" said mom Christy Holt. "But he had the biggest heart."
The 6-foot-6-inch, 270-pound defensive lineman was on his way to Logan Saturday, to prepare for his first season, when he drifted into a construction zone on Interstate 15, lost control, rolled the vehicle, and was thrown through the window. He was airlifted to Ogden Regional Medical Center.
"It's not something that you ever prepare for," Christy Holt said.
Brady Holt suffered head trauma, a broken neck and broken back.
"The doctor was right up front and says ‘I only give him about a 15 percent chance of surviving,’" said dad Tracy Holt.
The parents won't know his long-term prognosis until he regains consciousness.
"We just need him to wake up, and show us that there is still fight left in him, and if he don't that's a decision that we're going to have to make," Tracy Holt said.
Dozens of Brady Holt's USU teammates and coaches have visited him the hospital. His parents had no idea the impact he had made, considering he never even got to play in a real game.
"As a parent you hope your kids are good kids and they treat people well and to see the outpouring of love – it’s just been overwhelming extremely overwhelming," Tracy Holt said.
A Go Fund Me Account has been set up for Brady's family. Almost $7,000 had been raised as of Monday evening.
