Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez announced Monday that offensive lineman Zach Hemmila died in his sleep sometime Sunday night or early Monday.
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Hemmila was a four-star in-state prospect from Chandler High School (Chandler, Ariz.) when he joined the program as part of Rodriguez’s first recruiting class in 2012.
The visibly emotional Rodriguez said Hemmila’s parents had been in town “the last couple days”, and added he did not know much in the way of details. No cause of death has been reported. “We lost a great young man”.
Hemmila was entering his redshirt senior season, and he was expected to compete for the starting center spot. The players were told about Hemmila’s death after practice. “Everybody in the program is hurting”. He appeared in 13 games in 2015, including six starts at left guard. Rodriguez had last spoken with Hemmila on Saturday night for about 45 minutes “about everything”.
Byrne said there would be grief counselors available to the players.
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“As Coach said, he was a great young man, and we’re just do deeply saddened”, Byrne said. “Our deepest thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends, the team, his teammates, the coaches and everybody involved”.
