U.S. Naval Academy third-string quarterback Ralph "Rafi" Montalvo is in a medically-induced coma today fighting for his life, after suffering a critical head injury in a car accident on Thanksgiving.
Montalvo's teammates are grappling with the tragedy as they prepares to play their rival Army (the U.S. Military Academy at West Point) on December 8.
Montalvo, a freshman at the Naval Academy, was the passenger in a car that crashed into a house on a very foggy night near Miami, Florida, according to the Baltimore Sun.
ESPN.com reports alcohol was likely not a factor in the accident, which also seriously injured the driver.
The CapitalGazette.com reports Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo had the jersey Montalvo was to wear for the for the Army-Navy game sent to the hospital where Montalvo is being cared for. Niumatalolo told the CapitalGazette.com:
"The doctors are doing the best they can. There's nothing anyone else can do. We're all praying for him."
