A high school quarterback died after being tackled and hitting his head during a game in Alabama, officials said Monday, in the latest tragedy in American football to strike a young player.
Caden Tellier, 16, was injured Friday in the third quarter while playing for John T. Morgan Academy, a private school in Selma, as the Senators hosted Southern Academy.
Early in the third period, Tellier was running with the ball when a South defender wrapped around his waist, and the QB nearly broke free before being pinned in the ankles, Dallas County Coroner William Dailey told NBC News Monday.
“He fell, landed on his elbow and his head hit the ground,” Dailey said. “From everyone’s perspective there, it wasn’t a violent blow and his head didn’t hit the ground violently.”
Tellier “began staggering” toward the sideline and as trainers administered concussion protocol, the QB vomited, “became unresponsive” and “was never able to speak again,” the coroner added.
He was rushed to Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma and flown to UAB Hospital where he died, the coroner said.
A state medical examiner is expected to rule on the cause of death. But Dailey said preliminary findings are that internal bleeding in the brain caused by the fall led to Tellier’s death.
The player’s mother, Arsella Slagel Tellier, said in a Facebook post Saturday: “Everyone who knows Caden has known kindness, generosity and love, and true to his nature, he gives of himself once again.”
“Lives were touched by his way of life and now lives will be saved because of his passing,” she said.
A GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses, which has already raised $75,000 of a $100,000 goal, said Tellier died of “head trauma.” The GoFundMe page also mentions that Tellier was an organ donor.
The teenager’s father, Jamie Tellier, said he was encouraged by well-wishers from across the country.
Although his son lived only 16 years, the grieving father said Caden was deeply religious and enjoyed almost every moment of that time.
“Some people don’t get to do a lot in 80 years of life, and my son did it all in 16 years,” Father Tellier told mourners at a memorial service. “He lived a life, he laughed, he was able to do everything he wanted to do, he accomplished so many things he loved.”
Morgan Academy Principal Dr. Bryan Oliver said in a statement to NBC affiliate WSFA in Montgomery that there are no words to describe how we feel as a school community and family. Morgan Academy has approximately 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 supported the school’s decision to cancel all classes and activities this week, “giving their community time to come together, reflect and support one another during 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 of a head injury in 2022, while a student died during a football practice in Florida in 2021 and a 15-year-old boy died after collapsing during a practice in Georgia the same year.
And most recently, sophomore Ovet Gomez-Regalado died Aug. 16 during a preseason practice at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, located about 12 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City, Mo., officials said.
Semaj Wilkins, a freshman at New Brockton High School in Alabama, suffered a “medical emergency” during practice and died Aug. 13, authorities said.
Jayvion Taylor collapsed during football practice on Aug. 5 at Hopewell High School, about 24 miles south of downtown Richmond, Virginia, and died, authorities said.
Leslie Noble died Aug. 14 after collapsing during practice at Franklin High School in the Baltimore suburb of Reisterstown, Maryland, authorities said.
