It didn't get a lot of attention last month. After all, it wasn't at a major school and it wasn't some star player. Still, a college football player for the Central Florida Knights collapsed during spring practices and died. And there are a lot of questions swirling around his passing.Ereck Plancher was 19 and was finishing his freshman year at UCF. During spring practices on March 18, the receiver collapsed at the end of a conditioning drill called the "mat drill." About an hour later, Plancher was pronounced dead. Preliminary reports have proven inconclusive as to the cause of death. The full autopsy results are not yet ready.
According to UCF Coach George O'Leary, the conditioning drill was not particularly strenuous and he did not recall seeing Plancher struggling. Other coaches said similar things. Players, however, are quietly saying different things.
They said those drills, conducted in the Knights' indoor fieldhouse, came after players lifted weights for an hour, also a supervised activity.Plancher did pass 2 physicals that met the NCAA minimum requirements.
"Everybody was struggling at times," one player said. ". . . But he [Ereck] was running, and I could tell something wasn't right. His eyes got real dark, and he was squinting like he was blinded by the sun. He was making this moaning noise, trying to breathe real hard."
The four players said Plancher fell during the final sprint and members of the UCF coaching staff yelled at him to finish the drill.
