Mizzou football player gets heart transplant, coach says

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A University of Missouri football player received a new heart on Wednesday, head coach Eli Drinkwitz said.

Drinkwitz posted on X on Thursday morning that freshman lineman Johnnie "DJ" Jones went through a heart transplant Wednesday night. Drinkwitz said the surgery "went well," and that Jones is recovering.

https://t.co/wopk0fiZIz

— Eliah Drinkwitz (@CoachDrinkwitz) October 8, 2026

"We are incredibly grateful for the medical team who cared for DJ and the donor and donor family whose extraordinary gift made this possible," Drinkwitz said in a statement. "Please continue to keep DJ, his family, the donor family, and his caregivers in your prayers as he begins the recovery process."

Drinkwitz told reporters on Monday that Jones needed a heart transplant after freshman intake tests for football players found an issue. The school worked with Mayo Clinic in Jones's home state of Florida, which discovered "a much more significant issue," he said.

Jones is an offensive tackle from Venice, Florida. He committed to the Tigers in October 2025 and signed with the team that December.

Jones currently has a donation page to help cover the costs of his surgery. The fundraising goal is $200,000, and he has raised just under $21,000 so far.

The Midwest Transplant Network said the average wait time for a patient on the heart transplant waiting list in the United States is 49 days. The Midwest Transplant Network helps coordinate donors with patients and, in 2025, had 371 donors, with 113 hearts transplanted from those donors.

There are various factors that contribute to the speed at which patients on the list receive a heart transplant.

"The factors that go into the heart transplant waitlist really come down to medical urgency," said Melissa Ott the Vice President and Chief Clinical officer of Midwest Transplant Network. "The very sickest patients who are in the most dire need of a transplant are at the top of the list of the wait list

Ott said that finding a matching organ donor depends on both the patient's and donors blood type, heart size, geographical location and sensitization status.

Transplants can come from anywhere in the United States, but there is a timeline on how long the heart can be out of a body, Ott said. Historically, hearts were only able to be transplanted within four to six hours before they were unusable; now, with new technology, hearts can last up to 20 hours.

"Technology today has really extended those timeframes. Now we have the ability to recover a heart, and it goes on a perfusion device that perfuses the heart just like it were [still in its body]," Ott said.

Nez Savala, the community engagement and public relations person for the Midwest Transplant Network, said that one organ donor can help eight people by donating their heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, and small intestine. A donor's tissue and bones can donated and help an extra 100 patients in need.

People of any demographic, including race, age, and medical background, can register to be an organ donor according to Savala.

"Don't count yourself out because you think you might be too old and let the medical professionals determine whether or not when you pass away if your organ or organs can help someone else," Savala said.

There are multiple ways to register to be an organ donor, including at the Department of Motor Vehicles, online registration, or declaring to be one in your will, according to Savala. She said that 90 percent of donors sign up through the DMV.

Savala reccomends that the community take time to educate themselves on becoming an organ donor and what the process intails because of how many people are in need of a transplant.

"There's a little over 2500 plus people who are on that waiting list," Savala said. "We know that wait could be long. Thankfully, it sounds like D.J. didn't have to wait as long."