A beloved college football star died in an automobile crash on Tuesday night in Virginia.
Jaquan Yulee, 24, who played linebacker for Marshall University in West Virginia, was killed in a single-vehicle accident in Suffolk, Virginia at 7:10 p.m. local time. According to reports, Yulee’s car flipped onto its roof, and he was killed instantly.
Yulee left Marshall University following a serious injury in 2019. After suffering a broken neck, the linebacker made a full recovery, but he left his school and was considering enrolling at an HBCU. Yulee listed Virginia State University, Central State University and Virginia Union University as possible options.
The morning of his death, Yulee appeared to be referencing his school search on Twitter, where he wrote, “It’s not about how big the school is or who went to the school before you no matter if it’s D1, D2 or D3 when you sign that letter to attend that University it’s either you gone eat or you gone starve just know if you a dawg them scouts coming to get you no matter where you at!”
Former Marshall University football coach John “Doc” Holliday shared on Twitter less than 24 hours later that Wednesday was “a sad day for all who knew Jaquan Yulee.”
“He is one of the toughest and most resilient football players I’ve ever been around,” tweeted Holliday. “But more, he was beloved by coaches and teammates because of the type of person he was. He will be missed.”
The official page of Yulee’s college tweeted, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of former Marshall football student-athlete Jaquan Yulee. His energy and ability to connect with so many in our fanbase was exemplary. He will be missed by so many in the Thundering Herd.”
Yulee teammate Cory Garrastazu retweeted a tweet of a video of Yulee captioned, “A smile that lit up an entire field…”
“This is the reason why the people that I love know I love them,” Garrastazu wrote. “Why drama does not exist for me. This is the reason why I love and live my life to the fullest. You don’t know when it’s time to go. You could be an amazing person and leave tomorrow and a bad person and live to be 100!”
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