Something Is Rotten In Orlando

It didn't get a lot of attention last month. After all, it wasn't at a major school and it wasn't some star player. Still, a college football player for the Central Florida Knights collapsed during spring practices and died. And there are a lot of questions swirling around his passing.

Ereck Plancher was 19 and was finishing his freshman year at UCF. During spring practices on March 18, the receiver collapsed at the end of a conditioning drill called the "mat drill." About an hour later, Plancher was pronounced dead. Preliminary reports have proven inconclusive as to the cause of death. The full autopsy results are not yet ready.

According to UCF Coach George O'Leary, the conditioning drill was not particularly strenuous and he did not recall seeing Plancher struggling. Other coaches said similar things. Players, however, are quietly saying different things.

They said those drills, conducted in the Knights' indoor fieldhouse, came after players lifted weights for an hour, also a supervised activity.

"Everybody was struggling at times," one player said. ". . . But he [Ereck] was running, and I could tell something wasn't right. His eyes got real dark, and he was squinting like he was blinded by the sun. He was making this moaning noise, trying to breathe real hard."

The four players said Plancher fell during the final sprint and members of the UCF coaching staff yelled at him to finish the drill.

Plancher did pass 2 physicals that met the NCAA minimum requirements.
With players speaking anonymously and the school suddenly very reticent to talk much, Plancher's father is getting a little frustrated.


To some extent, the lack of information is natural since there is nothing right now. The preliminary autopsy proved inconclusive. The full autopsy takes much longer.

The fact that the school doesn't appear to be doing a good job in communicating with the family is just dumb. The less they talk to the family. Make it clear what steps are taking place. Just explain what is happening at every step, the more it looks like they are trying to hide something. That, in turn, encourages the Plancher family to pursue legal options. If for no other reason than to force UCF to reveal what they have learned.

The school very publicly announced that they were going to pay for the funeral and memorial service for Ereck Plancher. Yet, the Plancher family indicates no one from UCF has talked to them about it. A UCF spokesman could only say they are processing the expenses as they receive them.

Add in the fact that the only UCF review of the events surrounding the death of Ereck Plancher was an internal review conducted by the UCF Athletic Association itself, and did not actually interview any of the players. Players were only "encouraged" to speak to the coaches about what they saw and it would be passed along. Otherwise, the players were not supposed to talk too much about what happened.

Whether intended or not, that sort of investigation only looks like legal liability ass-covering by the athletic department. Not actually investigating what happened and if there was anything that was missed or could have been done.