HUNTSVILLE, Alabama: Alabama A&M University has announced the death of a player who suffered a head injury during a football game in October.
Medrick Burnett, a freshman from Lakewood, California, joined Alabama A&M’s football program over the summer, transferring from Grambling State. He played in seven games this season, recording five tackles, including three in a standout performance against Austin Peay.
On a Go-fund me page a family member said, “He had several brain bleeds and swelling of the brain. He had to have a tube to drain to relieve the pressure, and after 2 days of severe pressure, we had to opt for a craniotomy, which was the last resort to help try to save his life.”
Burnett’s death is the second this year in Alabama in which a football player died following a head injury. On Aug. 24, 16-year-old Caden Tellier of John T. Morgan Academy in Selma died after suffering a head injury during a high school football game the previous night.
According to a report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, 16 players died from football-related injuries in the US in 2024, nine of which were in middle and high school.
