11th Grade Creekside High School CB DeAntre Turman Dies During Preseason Game

[GH]

A Creekside High School football player has died after being injured in a scrimmage Friday night.

DeAntre Turman, an 11th grader and cornerback for the Seminoles, died after being hurt on the Banneker High School field in College Park, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed Saturday morning.

Samantha Evans, spokeswoman for Fulton County schools said the teen was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died.

Turman was one of the state’s top prospects for the 2015 class. Many colleges had planned on evaluating him this season. He got his first major-college scholarship offer in June from Kentucky.

Calls to Creekside head coach Olten Downs were not immediately returned. Downs is in his first season at Creekside in Fairburn. He previously was head coach at Riverdale.

Johnny T. White, Creekside’s head coach from 2009 to 2011, heard the news from a Creekside parent who saw the scrimmage. White was Turman’s head coach as a freshman. “He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever dealt with in my 18 years of coaching, period, hands down,” White said. “He was quiet, but always smiling. He had a real good spirit. It was always yes sir, no sir. He enjoyed his team, and he loved his teammates. Just a great kid.”

Now an assistant coach at Langston Hughes, White said he was told by a parent of another Creekside player that Turman was making what appeared to be a routine tackle when he was injured.

Turman, a 5’11, 164 pound cornerback, had a scholarship offer from UK, according to 247Sports and others.

“He started getting a whole bunch of looks. Offers were coming in,” White said.
Glenn Ford, Turman’s coach with the iDareU training program in Atlanta, also said Turman, 16, had an offer to play football at UK.

“He was a good kid, an outstanding football player, and loved his parents,” said Ford. “He lost his mom a year ago, but persevered through everything and loved the game he died for. He will be missed.”

Apparently he hit a wide receiver and his body went limp. He was taken to Grady Memorial where he was pronounced dead.

[The Yancey]

Well that just sucks. I guess that a congenital anomaly will be found on autopsy.

[SWAGGGA]

Went out doing what he loved.

[rolinb1]

Prayers sent to the family,...sounds like, by this account, a good kid doing what he loved.

[nicstockman]

Wow. Sad to hear. Prayers for the family.

[jhaze7683]

read this at work. Very sad... this is happening way too often to high school athletes... I hope that someone will step up and make sure that these kids are healthy enough to play sports... Prayers to both teams, and the families affected by this tragic turn of events.

[taylorssc]

Originally Posted by The Yancey

Well that just sucks. I guess that a congenital anomaly will be found on autopsy.

Turman, 16, died of a broken neck later Friday night at Grady Memorial Hospital. The Medical Examiner’s Office said Turman’s death resulted from his neck vertibrae being broken “due to blunt force trauma.”

....

Glenn Ford told Channel 2 he watched the play from the field. “Tre broke on it, dislodged the ball and his body just went limp. (He) immediately just went limp and he was on the ground,” Ford said. He said he ran over, but Turman wasn’t breathing. “(We were) calling out his name, just trying to get him to come back to open his eyes up to move until the ambulance got there,” Ford said. Ford told Channel 2 it took about 15 minutes for paramedics to arrive.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/high-sc...g-injur/nZRR2/

[cockymac]

Prayers sent out for the family.

[JoeCock]

My heart goes out to the Family, Team and Community.

[Acockolypse Now]

That's awful.

He wasn't related to Daccus was he?

[M.C.]

Way to young

[ccured]

horrible. his friends and relatives say the tackle was routine and that his head was up. He fractured his third cervical vertebrae

[bigdog2003]

We just had a class on sudden death in high school sports at our coaches convocation Friday morning. Neck injuries were discussed in detail. This sounds like one of the freak accidents that happen in sports.

[eggroll]

Any relations to Daccus Turman?

[ShutTheSuccop]

Phrenic nerve snapped? Cervical fracture above c3 is my guess

[ColaCock]

Sad.

When I was a junior, I broke a teammates neck during practice. It was his first year playing football and he just didn't have technique down...and I was a hard hitter. There was very little time between the moment I hit him and him dropping his head down.

He had to wear one of those halos for quite a few months. Never played sports again. Hope the guy is okay now.