What Morgan Scalley said about Harrison Taggart and restarting play after scary injury

Utah State linebacker Harrison Taggart was taken to University of Utah Hospital by ambulance after suffering what looked to be a serious injury in the second quarter of the Aggies’ 33-0 loss to Utah on Saturday.

Taggart suffered the injury with 8:33 remaining in the second quarter when his head made contact with Daniel Bray’s knee while Taggart was tackling the Utah running back.

In a scary scene, Taggart laid motionless on the Rice-Eccles Stadium turf for a number of minutes as Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall and Utah coach Morgan Scalley both immediately ran out to check on him alongside the Utah State athletic trainers.

Medical staff brought out a spine board to transport Taggart into the ambulance as both teams came out onto the field and took a knee. As Taggart was loaded into the ambulance, the entire Utah State team gathered around him to wish him well.

Taggart was able to point to the sky as he was loaded into the ambulance.

Postgame, Utah quarterback Devon Dampier said a message was relayed that Taggart was “doing better than where he was at.”

“Man, I don’t wish that on anybody,” Dampier said. “We’ve all worked so hard to get to where we are today. There’s so much behind the scenes work that you guys don’t get to see, but just for that to happen to somebody, that does hit the heart pretty well.

“I think everyone kind of felt that, and just happy he’s doing well. We got a little bit of feedback that he’s doing better than where he was at. God bless him.”

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Scalley opened his postgame press conference by sending prayers to Taggart.

“First and foremost, really, prayers go out to Harrison Taggart. In talking to Coach Mendenhall and getting some updates, it sounds like he’s got feeling back in legs, but I don’t have official word on that,” Scalley said.

Scalley recruited Taggart out of Utah’s Corner Canyon High, but the star linebacker chose to go to Oregon instead. After a year in Eugene, Taggart transferred to BYU, where he played for two seasons before transferring to Cal for a year and then to Utah State.

He registered five tackles in Saturday’s game against Utah before the injury.

“Harrison’s a kid that we recruited at Utah,” Scalley said. “I know his mom and I went to school together, so really praying for him. That’s not something that you want to see ever, and that’s the unfortunate thing about this game, so prayers go out to Harrison.”

Both teams were understandably emotional during the scene, but after Taggart was taken to the hospital, play resumed.

After seeing such a scary moment, it was tough to go out and resume play with the injury in the back of players’ minds.

“When you see someone that plays your game and you see that type of thing happen to them, that can go through your mind. ‘Well, when’s my time?’ So the coaches did a really good job of keeping the guys focused, talking about football,” Scalley said.

“Obviously we paid much respect to the young man and to Utah State. That’s just one of the challenges of the game, and it’s really on us coaches and it’s part of our culture, right? It starts with me. You got to be a self-starter, got to get yourself back in.”