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Florida State football player Ethan Pritchard had an emotional reunion with his teammates at practice on Friday.
Pritchard was away from the team after he was shot in the back of his head one day after FSU upset the Alabama Crimson Tide in August.
The linebacker spent several weeks in a hospital after the shooting.
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Linebacker Ethan Pritchard of the Florida State Seminoles during the first day of practice at the Albert J. Dunlap Athletic Training Facility on the campus of Florida State University in July 2025 in Tallahassee, Fla. (Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
After he was discharged, the freshman entered a rehabilitation center in Jacksonville. He rang a bell and received a standing ovation as he was released from the center Thursday.
FLORIDA STATE HONORS ETHAN PRITCHARD, WHO WAS SHOT IN HEAD, DURING GAME VS EAST TEXAS A&M
He is expected to attend the Seminoles’ home finale against Virginia Tech Saturday. Pritchard got around on an electric wheelchair when he arrived at practice Friday to visit teammates and coaches.
Florida State linebacker and former Seminole High star Ethan Pritchard was shot during a gathering in Havana, just 30 minutes outside of Tallahassee, Fla. (Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Pritchard was a four-star high school recruit and is a Florida native.
Investigators determined Pritchard was the victim of mistaken identity and was “not doing anything wrong” when he was shot outside an apartment complex near Tallahassee Aug. 31. Authorities said Pritchard was dropping off an aunt and a child after a family party when he was attacked.
Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard walks to the stadium before a game against Duke Oct. 21, 2023, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
Four people were arrested in September in the shooting.
“I remember everything,” Pritchard said in an interview with WESH-TV in Orlando. “I turned the corner and shots rang off. I put the car in reverse and just backed up, and, after that, I don’t remember what else happened.”
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Pritchard added that he couldn’t move his right side when he arrived at the rehab center in Jacksonville, but he woke up one morning able to move and continues to improve.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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