CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - University of Virginia football player and Baton Rouge native, Mike Hollins, has been in a hospital bed since Sunday night. 

That's when one of his fellow students opened fire on a bus filled with UVA students, killing three football players and injuring two others, including Hollins. 

"They moved him to the intermediate room [today] which is not fully ICU but not a regular patient room. So, he's improving," said Gordon McKernan, well-known Baton Rouge attorney and family friend of Hollins.

Hollins played football alongside McKernan's son, JG, at the University Lab School at LSU. According to McKernan, the two were like brothers. 

McKernan flew to Charlottesville on Wednesday with his wife and Hollins' little brother to meet Mike at the hospital. Friends and family said that Mike was able to walk again Thursday, the first time since the shooting.

"They had him stand up [Wednesday] just to put some weight on it, and they started talking to him about his walking [and] rehab that he's going to have to do in the next few days," McKernan said.

Hollins' former football coach at U High, Andy Martin, has also been keeping a close eye on Hollins' recovery from afar. 

“I know that once he gets into the phase of recovery, it’s a three-to-four months recovery of just not being able to do much, just trying to recover,”  Martin said.

The UVA football team announced Wednesday their next football game is canceled.