Former UK QB Reese Phillips — now at Montana — carted off field, undergoes surgery

Montana quarterback Reese Phillips had to leave the Grizzlies’ game against Savannah State early after a leg injury on Saturday in a 56-3 victory in Missoula, Mont.

Phillips, a senior from Chattanooga, Tenn., who previously played for Kentucky, had completed his first 13 passes for 148 yards as Montana jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

Phillips’ mom, Elaine, tweeted that Reese Phillips was undergoing surgery after suffering a disclocated ankle, ruptured ligaments and a broken fibula.

Descriptions on Twitter had made Phillips’ injury sound serious.

“Reese Phillips is down on the field. His ankle is not in the right spot. This is bad,” tweeted Amie Just, who covers the Grizzlies for the Missoulian.

Phillips had been trying to scramble for yardage on a broken play and was injured when he was tackled.

“It’s hard to think about what we did when we had one of our players go down like Reese did,” Coach Bob Stitt said. “Especially knowing his story and how hard he’s worked and how well he’s been playing. … All of our concern right now is on Reese and his condition and his health.”

Phillips threw for 381 yards and four TDs in Montana’s season-opening win against Valparaiso. He was held to 123 yards passing and no TDs in last weekend’s loss at Washington.

This story was originally published September 16, 2017 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Former UK QB Reese Phillips — now at Montana — carted off field, undergoes surgery."