High School Football Player Dies After Jumping into Water, Getting Caught in Current

A Georgia high school football player died while on a trip after he jumped into water and got caught in a current at an Alabama park.

Antwon Carter, a linebacker on the Heard County High School football team, traveled to Alabama with his friends as a last-minute, end-of-summer-vacation trip, head football coach Shane Lasseter told the Times-Georgian.

The group went to a park near Fort Payne, where they jumped off a rock into the water, Lasseter told the newspaper. Carter got stuck in a current in the water running behind the rock, and his teammates were unable to get to him in time, he added.

McClatchy News reported Wednesday it was still awaiting a response for more information about the incident from Fort Payne authorities.

A school calendar shows Carter died just a week before starting his senior year of high school, according to McClatchy.

Carter's high school football program released a statement on Tuesday, writing that "to know Antwon was to love him."

"He had the most contagious smile in the world. He was a friend to so many and a brother to everyone who shared a locker with him," the statement continued.

"While nothing about today seems right or makes sense, and we don't have an answer to every why, we know this — Antwon Carter was loved and loved others."