Former Longhorns football player Jordan Shipley hospitalized after accident

Jordan Shipley injured in ranching accident

Texas Longhorns football great Jordan Shipley has been hospitalized after an accident on his ranch.

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Longhorns football great Jordan Shipley has been hospitalized after an accident on his ranch.

What we know:

Shipley was reportedly operating a machine on his ranch near Burnet when the machine caught on fire.

"He was operating a piece of equipment. I'm going to assume it was probably a skid steer doing some clearing, burning some brush, and a tragic thing happened and caught on fire somehow," said Tully Janszen, a friend.

He was severely burned and driven to a local hospital before being taken to Austin on a medical transport flight.

Longhorn football great Jordan Shipley hospitalized

Shipley, the all-team leading receiver at Texas, suffered a serious accident while working on his ranch.

Shipley's family says he is in critical but stable condition.

"By the grace of God, he was able to get to his ranch employee, and they were able to get to the hospital," said Janszen. "It really hits home to me being on the ranch running the ranch, taking care of it. A lot of times I'm by myself, and I've gotten myself into some hairy situations before, and by the grace of God, I was able to get out of them. Thank God for Jordan's resilience and his stubbornness to be able to get to his ranch employee."

What they're saying:

His wife Sunny shared a statement on Facebook, thanking people for their support:

"I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to return calls or messages. I thought it’d be easiest to update here. First of all, we feel your prayers. The Lord has answered your cries for Jordan as well as mine. The Holy Spirit was more tangible yesterday than I have ever felt before. I am nothing but humbled by the love and support from our family, friends and the most amazing community in the world Burnet, Tx. Jordan did as well as he could over night. I was thankful to be able to be with him even though he’s not able to communicate yet. He’s in a lot of pain, as expected. So they are keeping him sedated and comfortable. At the moment they are taking another look at his burns and looking at his lungs again before they can remove his breathing tube. We don’t know exactly what happened yet but, from what we’ve gathered so far, it’s an absolute miracle that he is still here with us. His God given stubborn will, athletic ability and pain tolerance is why he is still here with us. He was in the middle of nowhere and any other person would’ve gone into shock. He somehow made it to the only other person out there who was over 10 miles away. Praise be to God. Jordan loves Jesus. He loves Jesus in a way that I wish I could. I know He was there with him in the fire yesterday. We will know more about the severity of his burns today. The main concern at this moment are his hands, keeping infection away and his kidney function. We will take this day to day and I will try to update when I can because I know that there are so many that love Jordan. I know he’s got a long hard recovery ahead, but if anyone can do it.. he can. Please keep praying. We so covet them. We love you all."

Who is Jordan Shipley?

The backstory:

Jordan Shipley's new coffee, ice cream shop in Burnet

It has been over a decade since Jordan Shipley played in a National Championship game with the Texas Longhorn football team. Since then, he has turned his focus to scooping ice cream and serving coffee, where his football career began.

40-year-old Shipley is the Texas Longhorns football program's all-time leading receiver.

He earned Associated Press All-America honors in 2009 and had 248 career catches in college for 3,191 yards and 33 touchdowns.

Shipley was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round in 2010. 

He played three seasons in the NFL with the Bengals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.