Mike Hollins returns to UVA practice 4 months after shooting

Virginia running back Mike Hollins made his return to the practice field Tuesday, four months after he survived a shooting that took the lives of three of his teammates.

Hollins was a full participant as the Cavaliers opened spring practice, a remarkable recovery after he was shot in the back in November and spent time on a ventilator before being discharged from the hospital following a weeklong stay.

«Just to watch how he's attacked everything, could easily have made excuses, easily have overthought things, but he's taking it upon himself to respond and show perseverance and be resilient,» coach Tony Elliott said. «I think a lot of it is for himself, but the majority of it is for his teammates. There was a time when we didn't know if he'd ever have the chance to play to play football again. I'm just grateful to be on the grass, grateful to have an opportunity to be here at the University of Virginia and lead this program, lead these young men, all the guys that decided to come back and pick up the pieces and turn this tragedy into a triumph.

»Just so happy for Mike, because we all know that as a football player that your time is going to come to an end. You definitely wouldn't want it to come to an end in that fashion. So to see him to have another opportunity, just to go out on his own terms, makes it really special."

Hollins was one of four football players shot on a charter bus after they returned home from a field trip to Washington, D.C. Teammates Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D'Sean Perry were killed in the tragedy. Another student, Marlee Morgan, was also shot but survived.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a UVA student and former member of the football team who was on the trip, has been charged with three