Louisville updates status of football player Benjamin Perry after injury vs. Clemson

A Louisville player was transported to a local hospital after suffering an unspecified injury during Saturday night’s game versus Clemson.

The postgame word was that he was doing OK after the Cardinals upset the No. 11 Tigers, 31-22, in a primetime game at Memorial Stadium.

Cardinals defensive back Benjamin Perry was injured during the first quarter of the Clemson-Louisville game and spent about five minutes laying down on the field.

Louisville’s football X/Twitter account offered this positive news Sunday morning on Perry, saying: “All tests on Ben Perry came back normal. He was able to fly back to Louisville on Sunday morning with the team and will continue to be evaluated by the UofL sports medicine staff this week.”

Louisville coach Jeff Brohm and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney both spent time checking on Perry before he eventually walked off the field (with the assistance of trainers) wearing a neck brace Saturday night.

Shortly afterward, the ESPN broadcast showed Perry leaving the field on a stretcher attached to a golf cart. ESPN sideline reporter Kris Budden reported that Perry was taken into an ambulance and to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Although Louisville had not provided a specific injury update on Perry during the game, Budden said that the linebacker continued to wear a neck brace while strapped onto the cart and was “alert and talking” as he left Memorial Stadium.

Budden added in another update that Perry was being transported to a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina (roughly 45 minutes from Clemson) for an MRI and he had been speaking to his mother on the phone after his injury.

Brohm said postgame he hadn’t been able to get in touch yet with team personnel on Perry’s status but knew the safety had “some numbness in his legs.”

“We were gonna make sure that the neck was stabilized,” Brohm said. “I have not heard the latest.”

Swinney added postgame that Louisville was taking “a lot of precautions” with Perry, which he appreciated and agreed with.

“Hopefully he’s OK,” Swinney said. “I know they put him in a neck thing. Just trying to make sure that everything was gonna check out OK. So hopefully he will be.”

Perry is a fourth-year defensive back for the Cardinals from Chicago.