A high school quarterback died after he was tackled and hit his head during a game in Alabama, officials said Monday, in the latest gridiron tragedy to befall a young player.
Caden Tellier, 16, was injured Friday during the third quarter while competing for John T. Morgan Academy, a private school in Selma, as the Senators played host to Southern Academy.
Early in third period, Tellier was running with the ball when a Southern defender wrapped around his waist, and the QB nearly wiggled free before being tackled at the ankles, Dallas County Coroner William Dailey told NBC News on Monday.
"He went down, landing on his elbow and his head hit the ground," Dailey said. "Now, according to everybody there, this was not a violent hit and his head did not strike the ground violently."
Tellier "started staggering" toward his sideline and as trainers administered concussion protocol, the QB threw up, "went unresponsive" and "never was able to speak again," the coroner added.
He was rushed to Vaughan Regional Medical Centerin Selma and airlifted to UAB Hospital where he died, the coroner said.
A state medical examiner will rule on cause of death. But Dailey said the preliminary finding is that internal bleeding in the brain, caused by that fall, led to Tellier's passing.
The player's mother, Arsella Slagel Tellier, said in a Facebook post on Saturday: “Everyone who knows Caden has known kindness, generosity and love, and true to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time.”
“Lives have been touched by the way he lived and now lives will be saved through his passing,” she said.
A GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses, which has already raised $75,000 of its $100,000 target, said Tellier died from a “traumatic brain injury.” The GoFundMe page also mentions that Tellier was an organ donor.
The teenager's father, Jamie Tellier, said he's been heartened by well wishers from across the country.
Even though his son only lived for 16 years, the grieving dad said Caden was deeply religious and enjoyed nearly every moment of that time.
"There are some people that don't get to do a lot of things in 80 years of a lifetime and my son did everything in 16 years," the elder Tellier told mourners at a memorial service. "He lived a life, he laughed, he got to do everything he wanted to do, he accomplished so much (of what) he loved."
Morgan Academy headmaster Dr. Bryan Oliver said in a statement to NBC affiliate WSFA of Montgomery that "there are no words to describe how we feel as a school community and family." Morgan Academy has about 350 students.
"It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that Caden Tellier has gone to be with his Lord and Savior. Caden loved the Lord with all his heart and was a shining light every day he graced the halls of Morgan Academy," he said.
Michael McLendon, executive director of the Alabama Independent School Association said in a statement that he backed the school's decision to cancel all classes and activities this week, "giving their community time to come together, reflect, and support one another through this heartbreaking time."
"As a small school, Morgan Academy feels this tragedy even more deeply," McLendon said. The school has 339 students, according to its website.
Tellier's death is the latest in a string of deaths involving high school football players.
A West Texas high school player also died from a head injury in 2022, while a student died during football practice in Florida in 2021 and a 15-year-old boy died after collapsing during practice in Georgia the same year.
And more recently, sophom*ore Ovet Gomez-Regaladodied on Aug. 16during a preseason workout at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, which is about 12 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, officials said.
Semaj Wilkins, a freshman at New Brockton High School in Alabama, suffered a “medical emergency” during practice and died on Aug. 13, officials said.
Jayvion Taylor collapsed during football practice at on Aug. 5, at Hopewell High School about 24 miles south of downtown Richmond Virginia, before dying, authorities said.
Leslie Noble died Aug. 14 after he collapsed during practice at Franklin High School, in the Baltimore suburb of Reisterstown, Maryland, officials said.
