Alabama A&M LB Burnett dies from head injury

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama A&M football player who suffered a head injury during a game in October has died.

Medrick Burnett Jr., 20, was playing his first season as a linebacker with Alabama A&M University when he sustained a head injury during the annual Magic City Classic against in-state rivals Alabama State University on Oct. 26, the Jefferson County coroner said in a statement Friday. The coroner listed his official time of death as Wednesday evening.

The Alabama A&M athletic department announced Burnett’s death on Wednesday morning and then sent out a retraction later that day. The second statement said that the initial news of Burnett’s death came “from an immediate family member on Tuesday evening.”

The redshirt freshman from Lakewood, California, joined Alabama A&M’s team over the summer after starting his college career at Grambling State, according to the athletics department.

A spokesperson for the department could not be reached by phone on Friday morning.