Alabama A&M LB Medrick Burnett Jr. dies of 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 at linebacker with Alabama A&M University when he suffered the injury during the annual Magic City Classic against in-state rival Alabama State University on Oct. 26, the Jefferson County medical examiner said in a statement Friday. The coroner listed his official time of death as Wednesday evening.

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

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

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