Another High School Football Player Is Dead

Another high school football player—17-year-old senior Andre Smith of Chicago's Bogan High School—has died following an on-field injury, the Chicago Tribune reports. Andre's stepfather, Dwayne Smith, tells the paper he heard Andre was hit on the last play of a game on Thursday, complained of a headache, and collapsed after leaving the field. Andre was taken to the hospital and never regained consciousness before dying Friday morning. According to ABC 7 Chicago, an autopsy later this week should determine the cause of death, but relatives say Andre's brain had swelling. "He loved playing football, that was his sport," Andre's brother Chris Smith tells the Tribune. "He wanted to go to college and play football."

Andre is at least the seventh high school football player to die this season. A Texas junior died just last week after complaining of dizziness and collapsing on the sideline. A Seattle-area student died a week after being injured during a game in late-September. That same month, a New Jersey student died from a lacerated spleen during a game in which he had taken a number of hard hits. Dwayne describes his stepson Andre's death as a "freak accident," the Tribune reports. "You understand the risk, but it's a game, you know, it's a game," he tells ABC. "The kids have played this for years." (More high school football stories.)