Sad news for the Stetson Football program

[RedFlash]

Sad news. http://www.ajc.com/news/local/stetson-university-football-player-from-gwinnett-collapses-field-dies/2mZaKHjpz0YVVSdWNVaC3M/

Thoughts and prayers for this young man's family and for the Stetson football community.

[UIWWildthing]

God that's terrible. Way too young to be gone.

[Go Green]

Awful news...

[Bisonator]

My condolences to his family and friends. Very sad.

[citdog]

Very sad. Thinking of the family.

[Anthony215]

Prayers to the Stetson family as well as the kid and his family/friends. What a terrible way to go and it has to be heartbreaking for the Stentson kids and coaches who basically watched him die.

[walliver]

Wofford had a near miss with this last year, but fortunately our player was one of the 5% that survive.

Usually these events are usually due to congenital heart defects which produce no symptoms at all until sudden death occurs. There is unfortunately no inexpensive screening process for this.

My prayers are with his family.

[Go Green]

Usually these events are usually due to congenital heart defects which produce no symptoms at all until sudden death occurs. There is unfortunately no inexpensive screening process for this.

.

That's my initial take as well. I played for Stetson's Coach Hughes when he was the offensive coordinator for Dartmouth. He's certainly not a "Junction Boys" coach of yesteryear, running players to the ground. There's zero doubt in my mind that he exercised caution in playing in the August heat and followed the proper protocols when the player showed distress.

And I'm sure he's absolutely devastated at the tragedy. I don't know how they're going to be able to play this weekend....

[ursus arctos horribilis]

My condolences to all involved and suffering from the loss of this young man.

[Bisonoline]

Damn I hate to see this. Its terrible to have a young man pass while playing the game he loves. My thoughts are with his family and team.

[Bluefish845]

I will be at the SHU - Stetson game Saturday and expect it to be an emotional atmosphere. So tragic, my thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and the Hatters. As Dartmouth mentioned above Coach Hughes is a heck of a nice guy.

[RedFlash]

From Craig Haley's article up on STATS today (full link http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20170901000528618174604 ). Good luck to the Hatters this weekend.

- Let's throw in a bonus takeaway that didn't involve any game played Thursday night. Stetson has been as much the FCS story as any major power this week while the Pioneer Football League program has dealt with the death of redshirt freshman Nick Blakely after he collapsed at practice Monday evening. When the Hatters play at Sacred Heart on Saturday, the players will wear stickers with Blakely's initials on their helmets and his No. 37 jersey will be on the team's sideline.
"The initial thought after Nick's passing, other than talking to his parents and telling the team, was do we play this game or do we not," coach Roger Hughes said. "Literally, that thought passed within five minutes. We came to the realization that we have to play this game. We know Nick would want us to play this game and, after talking with his mother (Michelle Wilson), she told me that we have to play this game. She said that Nick would want us to carry on. Then she asked if it would be OK if they bury Nick in his uniform. That was a no-brainer."