UCF player collapses, dies after workout

It's a story that is tragically familiar for USF football fans: Ereck Plancher, a freshman receiver at Central Florida and the cousin of USF running back Moise Plancher, collapsed and died Tuesday morning after a conditioning workout, Orlando TV station WESH reported.

Plancher, who went to high school in Naples, was taken to a local hospital but could not be revived. Knights coach George O'Leary called a team meeting to let his players know Tuesday afternoon, according to the reort.

Plancher's death comes just 14 months after USF freshman running back Keeley Dorsey collapsed and died after a conditioning workout at the Bulls' athletic facility. Autopsy results showed no cause of death, though the Hillsborough County associate medical examiner believed it was a result of Long QT Syndrome, a genetic heart disorder that can cause sudden death.

Thoughts and prayers to UCF's football family, as well as to Moise Plancher and his family.

Comments

[Brendan]

My heart goes out to his familiy, the UCF players, and the entire UCF student body.

[Mike Lakeland]

That's horrible. My thoughts and prayers are certainly with the family.

[Andrew]

So sad. My thoughts go out to the family and friends.

[flsportsfan83]

Very sad. UCF is in my prayers.

[Blake]

It seems like tragic stories like this are occurring more and more often. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, UCF teammates, and friends.

[Jonny]

This is so frightening of a trend... My heart goes out to his family and the UCF community.

[GregP]

This is hard on everyone that knew him. No one should go this way. To Ereck's family, friends, and teammates, your feelings are shared and may you overcome the loss of a loved one.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I wonder how I am going to go...

I hope its quick and painless.

[Dave W]

This is terrible news. I feel for his family and his teammates. I wonder what is causing this trend. Perhaps athletic departments need to conduct cardio screening for student-athletes to see if any disorders were missed in childhood.

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO ALL INVOLVED

[ucfrocks]

Ereck Plancher thought of Coach O'Leary as a father. He was willing to do whatever to show how much he was honored to be a Knight. Coach O'Leary is probably the most beloved coach in the country aside from Tony Dungy. This is a sad day in Knight country which incorporates the whole of the country.

[Knightnation]

Ereck and his family will be in my prayers

[Reality]

When are we going to wise up and get these kids tested for this disorder, so we can stop them from dying while playing.......I know it is somewhat racist, as it is the sickle cell disease, but come on already. How many of these stories do we need.

[Tom]

Condolences to UCF players and coaches.

[Ken]

I don't know that they are becoming more common, or just that we're better informed about such things.

Reality, is sickle cell disease (or sickle cell trait) related to this? There's nothing racist about that--diseases happen variably in the population--some groups are more susceptible to X and others to Y. Anyway, how do you know that this one, or Dorsey's, is related to sickle cell?

[Miles Lamoureux]

George O' Leary will never see the top 2000 of the most beloved coaches in the country. Don't kid yourself, he is a fraud and liar. That's all he is.

[Terry Lucas]

Greg... My sympathies go out to everyone with ties to UCF and Erech Plancher. I'm still disturbed though by what some "supposed" UCF students stated on the ESPN boards that were at the practice in some capacity. Is there any truth to these rumors as I was sick to my stomach when I read them and don't believe someone would intentionally ruin a thread when a young man's life is lost and the story is dedicated to him. Anyways... here's the quotes from three different students... I don't know how to verify an IP address to see if this was the same poster with a grudge against O'Leary... but it did strike me odd to see such allegations.

ucfthetruth (5 hours ago) Report Violation | Ignore User First id like to send my thoughts and prayers to the family of Plancher, his death was a tradgedy and he will be missed. Second, id like to correct some false statements made by the athletic department. I know that the players are told to keep quiet in any matter of this magnitude, but their story should be heard. This death was a result of coaches having disregard for human fatigue. As a former part of the O'leary program, i know what the workouts were like. This death has nothing to do with the temperature or the humidity. On that point though, id like to confirm that the indoor facility that he was working out in was not air conditioned, it does have fans, but they were rarely turned on. The workouts were called voluntary, but if you missed them or you stopped working out you wouldnt be on the team. Hydration and overall health was not a concern, but sometimes we would be given water after workouts, and only rarely during.. The workouts were designed to test individual mental strength. I feel that in this case, Plancher had such strong mental strength that he ignored his body and proceeded in working out. For fear of losing his scholarship and dream of playing football, i can relate. All the people that disagree with my statement have either been ill informed or should be ashamed of themselves for witholding the truth. This death was not necessary and its time to get rid of this old school mentality in football. Physical limits are real and should be considered dangerous.

Anon.818 (5 hours ago) Report Violation | Ignore User Do not believe anything you hear in the official press releases. Spring Ball started YESTERDAY for those players. First of all, this voluntary stuff is completely fictional, because every one of those players knew that if they missed one of the practices, today or yesterday, they would be kicked off the team. Second of all, Tribble would not say who was leading the practice because it was OLEARY, who by NCAA compliance rules was not allowed to be there. And you cannot help but wonder if things would be different for the Plancher family right now, and poor Ereck, if it hadn't been Oleary screaming in Ereck's face all morning that he was a useless **** who could not run fast enough- who would not get up off the ground after he fell over from exhaustion. And those "ten minutes" of running? THIRTY FIVE. This never should have happened- its worse then tragic- it is immoral and despicable. Oleary should carry this around with him for the rest of his life that when this boy was dieing on the feild he walked away- yes walked away and DID NOT DO ANYTHING- they just yelled at him, until finally his own teammates took action. That man, and all the other "compliant" coaches at UCF should never be allowed to step on the feild again. This could have been anyone of those boys out there, Ereck was the unlucky one today- I just hope we can WAKE UP and learn from his example so he did not die in vain.

gillyfrom (6 hours ago) Report Violation | Ignore User this article is completely fabricated and is filled with lies. As someone who is close to the team as well as the player involved I know for a fact that this story needs to be looked into much more deeply. There is no air conditioning in the facility only fans which were not turned on. The workouts were not optional and Tribbel is a complete liar and should be ashamed of himself. We are dealing with someones life. That transcends whether or not he is protecting his football coaching staff. Every coach was there when this happened and pushed Eric to his death and then jeered at him while he was unable to finish his sprints. While laying on the ground he was mocked by coaches and the medical staff left him in the facility only helping when his teammates yelled to them that he was in very serious trouble. This article is #### and I am sorry for my language but this player deserves to have his TRUE story told.

[Mike Lakeland]

Terry - do you have a link for the comments?

Thanks.

[BullBard]

My condolences go to the Plancher family, Ereck's friends and teammates and the UCF community. Now is not the time for the foolishness of allegations. Someone has just passed away for the sake of playing a game.

[Terry Lucas]

Here's the link... It was in the comments section on the article on ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3300159

[Terry Lucas]

Bullbard... With respect to everyone in the UCF community, people normally don't make alleged remarks right when someone passes. When I read them, especially the last two, it struck me cold. I hope for the family's sake, these allegations aren't true... because if it were someone in my family and the allegations were true, there would be hell to pay (and I'm not talking a financial settlement).

[Ken]

I read the article and all of the posts. I sure hope these--and a few others--are wrong.

[Mike Lakeland]

I agree with Terry. I agree that the family should be allowed to mourn. However, if these allegations are in any way true, more players could be at risk and the allegations need to be investigated immediately.

At least UCF stopped all conditioning and practicing for now. That is the best thing they could've done.

[Speculation]

Now is not the time to speculate. Those comments cannot be taken as the truth. It's comparable to getting your research off Wikipedia. You need to check the sources. You can't check the truth of a commment. Don't speculate, be respectful to the family and the UCF community.

[BadA$$Bull]

Speculation has it right. Even though there may be truth in those anonymous posts, lets have some restraint for the time being and mourn with the Plancher family. Rest in Peace Ereck.

[Matt]

Coach O'Leary... beloved? ROFL... funniest damned thing I read all day.

Everyone (including his players) hate O'Leary because he's a mean slave driver to his players. The media hates him because he's rude to them during interviews and just walks away in mid-question. Orlando HS coaches hate him and barely even let him in the door... hence he has to recruit in Long Island and Georgia.

O'Leary is an unlovable jerk, a liar, a charlatan, and a curmudgeon. To compare him to Dungy, one of the greatest men in pro sports, is comical.

To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen... I know of Coach Dungy. Coach Dungy is an inspiration of mine. O'Leary... you're no Coach Dungy.

[Lauren]

My thoughts & prayers go out to the entire UCF community. I respect their team(even as a Bull)& would never wish for anything bad to happen to one of their players!They are a good team & my thoughts are with them!