Caden Tellier, a 16-year-old junior at Morgan Academy in Alabama, was injured in the third quarter of a high school football game on Fri. Aug. 23, 2024. Tellier was airlifted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital where he died the next day, according to a statement from Tellier’s family posted on social media.
Tellier, a quarterback, was tackled and suffered a brain injury in the school’s season opener, Morgan Academy headmaster Bryan Oliver later said. “[I]t is believed that Caden suffered a ruptured blood vessel in his brain following a routine play in which he was carrying the ball and was tackled to the ground,” Alabama Independent School Association Executive Director Michael McClendon told CBS News. At that time, Tellier’s death was still under investigation, McClendon added. After Tellier died, all Morgan Academy athletic events were canceled for a week, school Headmaster Oliver said.
Seven high school football players from across the U.S. died in 2023
Tellier’s tragic death came early in the 2024 high school football season. According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, 16 football players died the previous year, including seven high school players. Three of those deaths were caused by in-game traumatic head injuries, while the other fatalities were caused by heatstroke and sudden cardiac arrests, among other factors.
Still, football fatalities at all levels of the sport are rare. But with added scrutiny on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the NFL, among other health and safety issues common to the sport, whether or not teens and younger children should be allowed to play football has been questioned.
Before the 2024 NFL season, the league announced it would allow “Guardian Caps,” or football helmets with extra padding designed to minimize concussion risk, during regular season play. Guardian Caps were already mandated during the NFL training camp, but players could also choose one of six new helmet designs shown to minimize head injury risk, ESPN reported.
Tellier was an organ donor
Caden Tellier was an organ donor, and according to AL.com, a GoFundMe was established to help Tellier’s family pay for funeral and medical expenses. “Everyone who knows Caden has known kindness, generosity and love, and true to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time,” Tellier’s family wrote in part on social media, announcing Caden’s death. His family added, “Lives have been touched by the way he lived and now lives will be saved through his passing. We will walk out these next few days alongside him in his earthly body knowing that his spirit is rejoicing in heaven. Arrangements for a service will be made soon.”
News of Tellier’s death spread widely in the sports community. At a press conference, Auburn University head football coach, Hugh Freeze, sent his thoughts and prayers to Tellier’s family. “I just can’t imagine the difficulty they’re going through, so our thoughts and prayers are with them,” Freeze said.