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| Friday, August 3 Updated: August 4, 3:22 AM ET Bentley: Wheeler's mom told them to be careful By Darren Rovell ESPN.com | ||||||||||
| EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern senior linebacker Kevin Bentley was over at Rashidi Wheeler's house again Thursday night. It was time for Monopoly, a game that the two -- as well as some other Northwestern players -- played four to five times a week.
But the phone kept ringing.
"As our families found out (Vikings tackle) Korey Stringer had died practicing, (Rashidi's) mom called and was like, 'You guys be careful and make sure you are drinking your water,' and all this," said Bentley, about 24 hours later.
"(Northwestern cornerback) Raheem Covington's mom called and we're just getting all these calls from worried moms about dying and stuff. And they're like, 'Be careful, make sure you're doing the right stuff' and this and that ... and 24 hours later, I talk to (Rashidi's) mom and it has a totally different story."
The "different story" was that Wheeler had died late Friday afternoon after collapsing on the field in the middle of conditioning drills. And Bentley had to make the call.
The topic was hard to avoid. University of Florida freshman Eraste Autin died working out July 25, and the Vikings tackle died working out a week later. That same day, Clinton Central High (Ind.) junior Travis Stowers died of an apparent brain aneurysm while practicing.
Do four deaths suggest that changes need to be made in terms of how teams prepare for football seasons?
"Football training?" asked Northwestern defensive backs coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was a two-time All-America linebacker at the school. "I would think about the triathlete that goes and does 26 miles of this and 18 miles of that and finishes with a run and we weren't even close to something like that today. Football by far is not the most extreme sport that you condition for."
"This isn't the first year we are playing football, so I don't feel like these (four deaths) are football-related," Fitzgerald said. "I think it's just a bad coincidence."
Unlike the heatstroke-related deaths of Autin and Stringer, Wheeler's death doesn't appear to be heat-related. Wheeler, however, did suffer from chronic asthma.
After Wheeler was pronounced dead, head coach Randy Walker met with the team. There were hymns and prayers, anger, grief and frustration, Walker said. But not fear that they would be the next victim.
"I don't think that was part of the emotion," Walker said.
When asked if Wheeler's death would change Walker's view on any intense conditioning drills that were planned for the team's upcoming camp in Kenosha, Wis. -- which begins Aug. 17 -- Walker wasn't ready to say.
"At some point you get back up on the horse and you go on, but I don't have to do that right now," Walker said.
Darren Rovell, a staff writer for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com |
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