Georgia high school football player dies jumping into water in Fort Payne: âA friend to so manyâ

Friends of Antwon Carter said to know him was to love him.

Now, they’re mourning the Heard County High School linebacker after a tragic accident during a trip with his teammates to Alabama, Georgia reports say.

“He had the most contagious smile in the world,” the football program said in a statement posted on Twitter on July 25. “He was a friend to so many and a brother to everyone who shared a locker room with him.”

Carter and a few of his teammates were on a last-minute trip to wrap up their summer, head football coach Shane Lasseter told the Times-Georgian.

The teens were at a park near Fort Payne, and were jumping off a rock, Lasseter told the paper. Carter got caught in a current running behind the rock, the paper reported.

Lasseter said fellow players weren’t able to get to Carter in time. The date of the accident is unclear.

Additional information wasn’t available.

McClatchy News reached out to Fort Payne authorities on July 26 and was awaiting a response.

Carter was just a week shy of starting his senior year Aug. 3, according to a school calendar. He was being eyed as a college football prospect, though it’s unclear where he planned to commit, WAGA reported.

“‘You will be missed’ is just not adequate enough to say with the massive impact you made as a son, a brother, a teammate,” his teammates said.

Heard County is about 60 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta.