Jordan McNair, a 19-year-old sophomore offensive lineman for the University of Maryland football team, died Wednesday, two weeks after he was hospitalized following an incident at a team workout on May 29. Terps athletic director Damon Evans announced McNair’s death in a statement released Wednesday evening.
According to an ESPN report, McNair was airlifted to a Baltimore area shock trauma hospital the afternoon of the 29th, and between now and then he reportedly received an emergency liver transplant. Details of McNair’s collapse at the team workout are sparse, but it’s worth noting that another football player at a Maryland school, Gavin Class of Towson, received a liver transplant after collapsing from heat stroke during a practice in 2013.
The Baltimore Sun described McNair, who played one game for the Terrapins as a true freshman in 2017, as “a happy, smiling mountain with a promising football future.” McNair grew up in Randallston, Maryland, a nearby town in Baltimore County, and was a two-time All-Metro offensive guard and MaxPreps Sophomore All-American for McDonogh School, in Owings Mills.