Sad news! According to reports, on Wednesday, MSU football player Sam Westmoreland was found dead at a church. According to TMZ Sports;
A spokesperson for the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office says they discovered the offensive lineman’s body after they were called out to Blackjack Missionary Baptist Church in Starkville regarding a death investigation.
The spokesperson said they canvased the scene after arriving … but cleared it a couple hours later.
The OCSO official did not release a cause of death … saying a probe into the case is still ongoing.
They added, though, that they had “no reason to suspect foul play” at this point.
Westmoreland had just joined the Bulldogs roster this year … and was playing offensive tackle while majoring in industrial technology at the school.
“Sam was a beloved son, brother and teammate, and a tremendous young man with a limitless future,” MSU head coach Mike Leach said in a statement Wednesday. “He will always be remembered and deeply missed by everyone who knew and loved him.”
Westmoreland was just two days away from celebrating his 19th birthday.
The real question is, what really happened?
Mississippi State University announced Westmoreland’s death Wednesday. He was 18-years-old and would have turned 19 this Friday.
‘The university is working cooperatively with the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office, the Oktibbeha County Coroner’s Office, the MSU Division of Student Affairs, and the MSU Athletics Department to determine the facts of this incident and will have no further comment until that assessment is completed,’ read a statement on the university’s athletic department website.
In a statement, the university expressed condolences to the Westmoreland family and remembered a student described as ‘a tremendous young man with a limitless future’
‘One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned while leading this great university is that the tragic loss of one of our students diminishes all of our students—and all of us at Mississippi State feel the impact of Sam Westmoreland’s death,’ said MSU President Mark E. Keenum.
Flip to the next page for more on this mysterious death.