The injury to Christion Abercrombie rocked the college football world over the weekend, and Lovie Smith addressed the situation Monday.

Abercrombie collapsed on the sidelines during Tennessee State’s game against Vanderbilt before being rushed to the hospital with a serious head injury. Rod Reed, head coach at TSU, commented that the play was simply a football play without anything malicious involved. However, the injury was indeed serious.

Abercrombie remains in critical condition, and Smith took time to comment on the incident Monday. The LB began his career at Illinois and appeared in 11 games for the Illini in 2017. Smith said his thoughts and prayers are with the family and admitted it is “tough” when injuries like this hit close to home.

Illini Football shared a screenshot of Smith’s complete comments:

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Abercrombie and his family.