The NC State football team got a serious scare on Thursday night, with defensive back Rakeim Ashford going down on a late hit and getting stretchered off the field in the team's first game against UConn.

Ashford was taken to a local hospital for evaluation after he was blindsided on a kickoff return after the whistle. The graduate student reportedly has movement in his extremities and gave a thumbs up to his teammates and the crowd as he was carted off the field.

“Once we kind of knew that [Ashford] was going to be fine and stable and he was going to be alright, us having the ball where we had it, we were like ‘We’ve got to go punch this son of a gun in,” his QB Brennan Armstrong said.

The Wolfpack used a strong second half to take down the Huskies by a score of 24-14. After the game, head coach Dave Doeren was able to provide a positive update on Ashford's status, per Ethan McDowell of On3 Sports.

“So far, everything I’ve been told is positive,” Doeren said. “They’re going to keep him overnight to make sure, but every test that they’ve done so far has been okay. There’s a lot of tests that I’m sure they’re going to do, but so far so good.”

NC State will return to action next Saturday when they host a vaunted Notre Dame Fighting Irish team ranked 13th in the nation. They will hope that Ashford's injury is not serious after further tests, as they need all hands on deck to compete in this next test.