University of Georgia Athletics
'I'm Ready To Inspire Others'
November 27, 2025 | Football, The Frierson Files, Sports Medicine
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
"What I'm most thankful for is making it another year," Devon Gales said about 10 days before Thanksgiving. "A lot of people don't make it to the next day. So, to be able to open my eyes, be able to get in this chair, roll to class, see my family, graduate, finish what I started — just all those things. That's what I'm happy for."
Gales, the former Southern University football player who suffered a spinal cord injury while playing against Georgia at Sanford Stadium on Sept. 26, 2015, and remains paralyzed from roughly the chest down, has much to be thankful for this year. He's living a meaningful, fulfilling life surrounded by people who love him; he lives not far from Athens, in Jefferson, where he teaches part-time at Jefferson Academy, an elementary school; and after returning to college in the fall of 2021, this time at UGA, Gales will graduate with a degree in Communications next month.
"It's an accomplishment, a blessing to be able to show others: Look what I did," said Gales, who can use his arms, can drive himself, and gets around in his wheelchair. "Going through what I went through, and now being able to say 'Mama, I did it,' that's the biggest thing that runs through my mind. It makes me emotional, just because it's bigger than me."
Gales is saying this from the top floor of Stegeman Coliseum, in the office of Ron Courson, the UGA Athletic Association's Executive Associate Athletic Director for Athletic Health and Performance. Back in 2015, Courson was still Georgia's Director of Sports Medicine, a job he held for 30 years until January 2025. And it was Courson who rushed out onto Dooley Field after Gales stayed down following a collision with Georgia kicker Marshall Morgan.
The player and the caregiver have been connected ever since — and will be for the rest of their lives. Courson was by Gales' side as he was carted off the field, at the hospital in Athens, and then made many trips to Atlanta while Gales and his family were at the Shepherd Center, where Gales lived for several months while recovering from spinal fusion surgery.
For Courson, his experiences with Gales, both the day of the injury and in the decade that has followed, have been professionally and emotionally challenging. They have also been inspiring.
"It gives you a different perspective," Courson said. "And actually, he inspired me to go back to school. I'm hammering him about going back to school when I'd been thinking about going back to school, so that's actually one reason I started my doctorate.
"He's changed my life in so many ways. When you're in the training room, people are coming in because they have a problem, and you want to have an impact on their lives. And the big thing is to let them know you care about them. And having that culture, that positive environment — it's like Devon said, your atmosphere around you defines you. And I think he embodies that positive attitude."
Courson earned his PhD. earlier this year, and next month, Gales will earn his undergraduate degree. The two are also working on a book about Gales' life and experiences, both from their perspectives and those who know Gales best.
"Each week, we take a chapter," Courson said. "Today is the future. Last week, we talked about going back to school, and the week before that, we talked about the Shepherd Center and the process there."
Gales' smile lights up the room, and that smile has been present throughout his life, which has always been filled with love but also many challenges long before his spinal injury. How does he do it?
"God is good. God is good every day of my life," Gales said.
Despite the devastating result of their collision that day, Morgan and Gales have become friends. When Morgan got married a few years ago, Gales was there. "He pushed me down the aisle and had me sitting in the front with mom and them," Gales said.
A little more than 10 years after the injury, Gales, who was listed at 5-foot-9 and 158 pounds in 2015, still misses football.
"I miss hitting people," the former wide receiver from Baton Rouge, La., said with a smile. "I like running into somebody, like a Marshawn Lynch; putting your helmet in somebody's face and just, ugh! I miss the contact part of it."
While Gales' days of hitting people are over, he continues to work out, lifting weights and doing what he can.
"It puts me back in the element of an athlete. It puts me back to where, if I'm feeling some type of way, I can get it all out in the gym. ... I'm trying to get swole; I'm trying to get this body right," he said.
Gales' gym is in his bedroom in Jefferson, in a house that the Georgia football community and Bulldog fans helped build. There is room for him and his family to live comfortably together. It was in Jefferson that Gales stayed close to football for several years as an assistant coach on the Jefferson High School football team.
Less than two months after his injury, Gales and his family attended a game at Sanford Stadium and were recognized on the field during a timeout. The crowd roared like the Bulldogs had scored on a 99-yard touchdown run.
Last Saturday, after Georgia's Nate Frazier ran the ball in from the 2-yard line to put the fourth-ranked Bulldogs ahead 7-0 against Charlotte, Gales and his family were again recognized on the field. And the Bulldog fans again let out a big roar at seeing Gales' smiling face.
Gales might like to get into coaching again one day, but his goal now is to inspire others by telling his story as a motivational speaker.
"This is just the first chapter," Courson said, looking at Gales. "I'm really excited about where you're going to go next."
"I'm ready to inspire others and just let them know, through my situation, that you can overcome anything if you put your mind to it," Gales said. "And it's not easy, but having a village around you really makes a difference in your life."
After the interview, Courson and Gales headed off together to the Arch on North Campus, where Gales was going to do a photo shoot in his cap and gown.
Staff Writer
"What I'm most thankful for is making it another year," Devon Gales said about 10 days before Thanksgiving. "A lot of people don't make it to the next day. So, to be able to open my eyes, be able to get in this chair, roll to class, see my family, graduate, finish what I started — just all those things. That's what I'm happy for."
Gales, the former Southern University football player who suffered a spinal cord injury while playing against Georgia at Sanford Stadium on Sept. 26, 2015, and remains paralyzed from roughly the chest down, has much to be thankful for this year. He's living a meaningful, fulfilling life surrounded by people who love him; he lives not far from Athens, in Jefferson, where he teaches part-time at Jefferson Academy, an elementary school; and after returning to college in the fall of 2021, this time at UGA, Gales will graduate with a degree in Communications next month.
"It's an accomplishment, a blessing to be able to show others: Look what I did," said Gales, who can use his arms, can drive himself, and gets around in his wheelchair. "Going through what I went through, and now being able to say 'Mama, I did it,' that's the biggest thing that runs through my mind. It makes me emotional, just because it's bigger than me."
Gales is saying this from the top floor of Stegeman Coliseum, in the office of Ron Courson, the UGA Athletic Association's Executive Associate Athletic Director for Athletic Health and Performance. Back in 2015, Courson was still Georgia's Director of Sports Medicine, a job he held for 30 years until January 2025. And it was Courson who rushed out onto Dooley Field after Gales stayed down following a collision with Georgia kicker Marshall Morgan.
The player and the caregiver have been connected ever since — and will be for the rest of their lives. Courson was by Gales' side as he was carted off the field, at the hospital in Athens, and then made many trips to Atlanta while Gales and his family were at the Shepherd Center, where Gales lived for several months while recovering from spinal fusion surgery.
For Courson, his experiences with Gales, both the day of the injury and in the decade that has followed, have been professionally and emotionally challenging. They have also been inspiring.
"It gives you a different perspective," Courson said. "And actually, he inspired me to go back to school. I'm hammering him about going back to school when I'd been thinking about going back to school, so that's actually one reason I started my doctorate.
"He's changed my life in so many ways. When you're in the training room, people are coming in because they have a problem, and you want to have an impact on their lives. And the big thing is to let them know you care about them. And having that culture, that positive environment — it's like Devon said, your atmosphere around you defines you. And I think he embodies that positive attitude."
Courson earned his PhD. earlier this year, and next month, Gales will earn his undergraduate degree. The two are also working on a book about Gales' life and experiences, both from their perspectives and those who know Gales best.
"Each week, we take a chapter," Courson said. "Today is the future. Last week, we talked about going back to school, and the week before that, we talked about the Shepherd Center and the process there."
Gales' smile lights up the room, and that smile has been present throughout his life, which has always been filled with love but also many challenges long before his spinal injury. How does he do it?
"God is good. God is good every day of my life," Gales said.
Despite the devastating result of their collision that day, Morgan and Gales have become friends. When Morgan got married a few years ago, Gales was there. "He pushed me down the aisle and had me sitting in the front with mom and them," Gales said.
A little more than 10 years after the injury, Gales, who was listed at 5-foot-9 and 158 pounds in 2015, still misses football.
"I miss hitting people," the former wide receiver from Baton Rouge, La., said with a smile. "I like running into somebody, like a Marshawn Lynch; putting your helmet in somebody's face and just, ugh! I miss the contact part of it."
While Gales' days of hitting people are over, he continues to work out, lifting weights and doing what he can.
"It puts me back in the element of an athlete. It puts me back to where, if I'm feeling some type of way, I can get it all out in the gym. ... I'm trying to get swole; I'm trying to get this body right," he said.
Gales' gym is in his bedroom in Jefferson, in a house that the Georgia football community and Bulldog fans helped build. There is room for him and his family to live comfortably together. It was in Jefferson that Gales stayed close to football for several years as an assistant coach on the Jefferson High School football team.
Less than two months after his injury, Gales and his family attended a game at Sanford Stadium and were recognized on the field during a timeout. The crowd roared like the Bulldogs had scored on a 99-yard touchdown run.
Last Saturday, after Georgia's Nate Frazier ran the ball in from the 2-yard line to put the fourth-ranked Bulldogs ahead 7-0 against Charlotte, Gales and his family were again recognized on the field. And the Bulldog fans again let out a big roar at seeing Gales' smiling face.
Gales might like to get into coaching again one day, but his goal now is to inspire others by telling his story as a motivational speaker.
"This is just the first chapter," Courson said, looking at Gales. "I'm really excited about where you're going to go next."
"I'm ready to inspire others and just let them know, through my situation, that you can overcome anything if you put your mind to it," Gales said. "And it's not easy, but having a village around you really makes a difference in your life."
After the interview, Courson and Gales headed off together to the Arch on North Campus, where Gales was going to do a photo shoot in his cap and gown.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
Players Mentioned
RB
/ FootballGeorgia Football - Zachariah Branch Pre-Georgia Tech Press Conference
Tuesday, November 25
Georgia Football - Quintavious Johnson Pre-Georgia Tech Press Conference
Tuesday, November 25
Kirby Smart All Access vs Charlotte - 2025
Monday, November 24
Georgia Football - London Humphreys Pre-Georgia Tech Press Conference
Monday, November 24