A college basketball player, who had only been on campus two weeks, collapsed and died following a team workout.
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In an interview with the Stillwater NewsPress published earlier this month, Coger spoke of frequent headaches during high school and said he had surgery several years ago to drain fluid from around his brain.
Oklahoma State player Tyrek Coger died of enlarged heart, according to a medical examiner’s spokesperson.
Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood broke down at a news conference on Friday talking about his recent recruit. “This is my 30th year as a coach, and I’ve never ever had to do this”.
“You say goodbye to players when they graduate and that’s one thing”, Underwood said during a Friday news conference, choking back tears and pausing to wipe his eyes. “Making that phone call to a mother is – there’s no words”.
Underwood said Coger was “fired up to be a cowboy”. At the start of his sophomore season at Cape Fear Community College last fall, the 6-8 forward committed to Ole Miss.
‘Losing a member of the team is like losing a member of the family. “But we know our loss pales in comparison to the pain his family is going through”, Underwood added.
University officials said Friday that Coger didn’t appear to be having any issues during Thursday’s workout on the football stadium stairs.
Coger was transported to Stillwater Medical Center and pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m., according to an OSU news release.
Head basketball coach Brad Underwood, athletic director Mike Holder and the entire Oklahoma State University family are again mourning a bad tragedy that has devastated one of the school’s basketball programs.
In his lone season at Cape Fear, he averaged 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 52.6 percent from the field.
NCAA rules allow basketball teams to meet eight hours a week during the summer – time that can be broken up as two hours on the court and six on strength and conditioning, or all eight on strength and conditioning.
Rated as the No. 21 junior college prospect in the country by 247Sports.com, Coger originally committed to Ole Miss previous year. Wall wrote: “Rest in Peace to the lil homie who always had the competitive spirit. you will be missed Tyrek”.
Wall also posted a photo of the two from the 2012 Reebok Breakout Challenge.
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Coger’s death is the latest tragedy for OSU.
