By Staff
A Flomaton High School graduate and promising freshman football player at Huntingdon College died Friday after falling ill at practice.
Sam Collins, 18, a defensive lineman who graduated from FHS in May, earned All-State football honors after his final season at Flomaton. He was a pre-dentistry student at Huntingdon.
He had only just arrived at the college campus last week. Friday was the second official day of practice for the football team.
Huntingdon officials said Collins collapsed after practice and was taken to Jackson Hospital, where he died Friday evening. No official cause of death had been determined as of press time.
Montgomery Police Department spokesman Capt. Huey Thornton told the Montgomery Advertiser that coaching staff members thought Collins' collapse had something to do with heat stroke or heat exhaustion.
Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk shared the news of Collins' death with his teammates in a meeting Friday night.