FORT WORTH, TX : Injured Burleson High School football player improving after accident on Monday, 3rd October 2016

A Burleson High School defensive tackle was alert Monday and slowly improving from a serious head injury he suffered Friday night when he fell off the back of a pickup, his father said.

Jose Lopez said that his son, Jonathan Lopez, 16, was in serious condition Monday at John Peter Smith Hospital. Hospital officials could not comment on the boy’s condition because he is a juvenile.

Lopez, a junior at Burleson High School, still has swelling in his brain, his father said.

“Surgery is not on the radar,” Jose Lopez said Monday in a telephone interview with the Star-Telegram. “The swelling might go down in the next 48 to 72 hours.”

Jonathan Lopez has talked briefly to visitors to his room at the Fort Worth hospital.

Jose Lopez said his son has a long road to recovery.

Jonathan Lopez suffered brain bleeding after the head injury Friday night.

He and two of his teammates had gone to Buffalo Wild Wings in Burleson to eat after the football game Friday night, his father and Elks coach Gary McElroy both said.

Curfew was approaching for two of the boys, McElroy has said.

“They needed to head home,” the coach said in a weekend text. “Jonathan, who played more Friday night than he had thus far this season, was still excited and wanted to hang out in the parking lot and rehash the game. He wanted the boys to stay longer.”

Jose Lopez said his son was playing his first season of varsity football for the Elks. Burleson beat Joshua 45-3 in the Friday night District 9-5A game.

McElroy said Lopez sat on the tailgate while one of the boys, who was the driver, tried to get him in the cab so they could go home.

“The driver, a teammate, goosed it a little, and Jonathan fell out, hitting his head on the tailgate and then on the concrete,” the coach said.

McElroy said there was no drinking involved and called the incident a “crazy freak accident.”

Jose Lopez said numerous friends, relatives and residents from the Burleson community have come to the hospital.

“We’ve heard from people in Seattle to Louisiana, and all over the country,” Jose Lopez said Monday. “They are sending their prayers and wishing us well.”

Several teammates also have visited.

“The teammates who were with him that night also have come by to visit,” Jose Lope said. “They feel very bad about what happened.”

This report contains information from Star-Telegram archives.

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Injured Burleson High School football player improving after accident