USC Football Player Awake and Communicating After Surgery

Yesterday, we chronicled the scary weightlifting accident that crushed USC football player Stafon Johnson's throat and forced him into emergency surgery at the California Hospital Medical Center. Today, Johnson has come through surgery that repaired his larynx and vocal cords and is in stable condition, the Daily Trojan reports.

The senior running back was apparently awake and communicating after surgery. Had he not been in peak physical shape, he would have died, Dr. Gudata Hinika, the hospital's trauma medical director, told ESPN.

"Had that been any one of us, meaning me, we would have not survived," Hinika said. "His neck was so solid, so muscular ... and the discipline that one learns from being athletic also really helped him to calm down and just do what he needed to do. He took instruction very well. All this combination and his physical fitness contributed to his outcome."

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