Davin Cosby Jr. is back with his Kennesaw State teammates, working toward a return to the basketball court more than a year after a highway crash left him with a broken neck. The Owls guard suffered severe injuries when his vehicle hydroplaned and rolled on Interstate 85, and he missed the team's entire March Madness run while fighting through spinal rehabilitation in Atlanta. Now he's driving on his own again, training in the gym, and working toward his college degree as he chases a comeback.
The crash happened on July 13, 2025, in Franklin County, Georgia, when Cosby's car hydroplaned, flipped three times, and ejected him through the sunroof after colliding with another vehicle, according to Georgia State Patrol reports relayed by CBS News Atlanta. The wreck fractured his C7 vertebra and broke his neck, injuries serious enough to require two emergency surgeries at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville before he could even move his toes or sit upright, according to Kennesaw State Athletics.
From Gainesville to Shepherd Center
Cosby entered Atlanta's Shepherd Center on August 7, 2025, with what the rehabilitation hospital classified as a C4 to C7 spinal cord injury. Per Shepherd Center, he took his first assisted steps on parallel bars within three days of arriving, a rapid milestone for someone recovering from that level of trauma. He graduated from full-time inpatient care on September 10, 2025, continuing his recovery on an outpatient basis.
The pace of his progress has continued into this year. As of April 2026, Cosby had passed Shepherd Center's specialized Driving Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program and resumed driving independently, while still working one-on-one with therapists through the center's Beyond Therapy program at the ProMotion Fitness Center. Shepherd Center's own outcomes data shows why the facility has become a go-to destination for athletes facing this kind of injury: 93.9% of its traumatic spinal cord injury patients return to their home communities after rehab, well above the 73.3% national average.
A Coach Who Recruited Him Twice
Cosby's ties to Kennesaw State head coach Antoine Pettway predate the crash by years. Pettway originally recruited Cosby while serving as an assistant at Alabama, and when Pettway later took the Kennesaw State job, Cosby transferred from Wake Forest to reunite with him in April 2025, per the same Kennesaw State Athletics account. Before that, Cosby was a four-star recruit out of Richmond, Virginia, who averaged 23.6 points per game in high school, then appeared in 22 games for Alabama's 2024 Final Four team and 17 games for Wake Forest during the 2024-25 season, according to Alabama Athletics.
That bond showed itself during Cosby's recovery. Pettway chartered a team bus to visit him in the hospital, and on August 27, 2025, Cosby surprised his own teammates by walking into practice at VyStar Arena alongside his nurses — his first return to campus since the wreck, the university's athletic department reported. The program Cosby is fighting to rejoin has only gotten stronger in his absence: Pettway was named the 2026 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year after leading the Owls to a 21-14 record, their first Conference USA Tournament championship, and an NCAA Tournament berth, according to Kennesaw State Athletics.
Family Sacrifice Behind the Scenes
The recovery has come with a financial and personal cost for Cosby's family. His mother, Irene, temporarily halted her self-employed business and relocated from Virginia to Georgia to oversee his daily care, and the family launched a $40,000 GoFundMe campaign to help cover expenses, as reported by Sports Illustrated.
Cosby is now working toward his degree while continuing physical therapy, still missing the exact medical clearance timeline that would put him back on the court for game action. Kennesaw State's rise to a Conference USA championship without him has only heightened anticipation for whatever comes next in his recovery. Cosby's path mirrors that of another Georgia college athlete, Dante Dowdell, hospitalized after an ATV wreck, who also turned to Shepherd Center for specialized spinal rehabilitation this year.
