TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Ethan Pritchard returned to Doak Campbell Stadium in a wheelchair on Saturday, reuniting with his Florida State teammates as the freshman linebacker continues to rehabilitate from a gunshot wound to the head on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n
And his dad, Earl, says Ethan plans to walk with goals of returning to school in early January for Florida State’s spring semester \u2014 and playing football with the Seminoles in the fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s coming back on that field,\u201d Earl Pritchard told The Associated Press before Saturday\u2019s Virginia Tech-Florida State game. \u201cHe\u2019ll be back next year. When the season starts back, he\u2019ll be out there full stride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan Pritchard was shot while taking his aunt and a 3-year-old back to their apartment in Havana, Fla. Law enforcement officials said Pritchard did nothing wrong and think his car was mistaken for another man. Four men, including a juvenile, have been arrested in the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cI turned the corner and shots rang off,\u201d Ethan told WESH-TV on Thursday. \u201cI put the car in reverse and just backed up and after that, I don\u2019t remember what else happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
After he was released by Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Pritchard began his rehabilitation in Jacksonville. Ethan was released on Thursday and attended Florida State’s practice on Friday. Earl said his son will now recover back home in Samford, Fla., but will also make trips back to Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe shocked the doctors,\u201d Earl said. \u201cThe doctors didn\u2019t even expect it. But because of his determination, they just sit back and watch like we do. Enjoy the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan smiled as he was surrounded by his dad and family members. They greeted the Seminoles upon the team buses\u2019 arrival at Doak Campbell Stadium. Florida State strength and conditioning coach Josh Storms handed the team\u2019s sledgehammer \u2014 which is used to break a rock after wins as well as key moments in the offseason \u2014 to Earl.<\/p>\n
Florida State fans walked over to Ethan to smile, hug and take photos with him. Ethan has remained positive throughout his recovery, including a smile on Saturday. Why has he been so positive?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he can come do this right here, hang out with his buddies and be out there on the field with them,\u201d Earl said. \u201cHe\u2019s out there having fun now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earl said he was appreciative of coach Mike Norvell, coaches and Florida State players for their encouragement throughout the last few months.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlorida State is the best,\u201d Earl said. \u201cA lot of people talk the talk, but Florida State walks it. They\u2019re good people. Not just coach Norvell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friends started a GoFundMe to help support Ethan and his family\u2019s medical needs. More than $148,000 had been raised as of Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, thank you to all the people that we don\u2019t even know that prayed, still praying, donated and everything,\u201d Earl said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not going to waste. Trust me, it\u2019s going to good use. It\u2019s all being used on him. Thank you for the prayers. We are still making progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to come to class. He\u2019ll be back in class (in January). Even if he comes in a wheelchair. But I think he\u2019ll be walking by then.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Ethan Pritchard returned to Doak Campbell Stadium in a wheelchair on Saturday, reuniting with his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4403,143,28,30,29,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-48259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-wires-bot"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}