A high school football player in Selma, Ala., died Saturday after suffering a brain injury during the team’s season opener Friday.
Caden Tellier, 16, suffered the injury in the third quarter of Morgan Academy’s game Friday and was airlifted to a Birmingham hospital, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. Tellier’s parents, Arsella and Jamie, wrote on social media Saturday that he had died.
“Our boy, Caden Tellier, has met Jesus face to face. We appreciate all of your prayers and we covet them for the hard days ahead. Everyone who knows Caden has known kindness, generosity and love, and true to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time,” they wrote.
Morgan Academy suspended all school activities this week, according to a statement by Michael McLendon, executive director of the Alabama Independent School Association. The school held a time for prayer to honor Tellier in its gymnasium on Monday.
Morgan Academy headmaster Dr. Bryan Oliver said in a statement that Tellier “will never be forgotten for who he was and what he means to Morgan Academy.”
“It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that Caden Tellier has gone to be with his Lord and Savior. Caden loved the Lord with all his heart and was a shining light every day he graced the halls of Morgan Academy. He was a student, a friend, an athlete, and most important a Christ follower,” he wrote. “There are no words to describe how we feel as a school community and family. We will come together and support Jamie, Arsella and Lyla with our whole hearts. We offer our deepest sympathy to the Tellier’s extended family as well.”
Please keep our friends at John T. Morgan Academy in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/rh2twKBriV
— AISA (@aisaonline) August 25, 2024
The Friday night game against Southern Academy was Morgan Academy’s first of the season, according to the schedule posted on the school’s website.
(Photo: Edith Noriega / The Register-Guard / USA Today)
