Inside The Star
Near the end of the 2024 college football season, LSU receiver Kyren Lacy was a potential first-round pick in next week’s draft.
That all changed in mid-December on a road in Louisiana. Lacy was allegedly driving recklessly, speeding and passing in a no-passing zone that morning.
An oncoming car swerved to avoid hitting Lacy’s car.
That vehicle could not avoid a head-on collision with the car Lacy was passing.
Lacy did not stop or call 911. Herman Hall, a passenger in the car Lacy passed, died at the hospital from his injuries.
Lacy would declare for the draft two days later.
In January, he was officially charged for his role in the crash. He recently worked out at LSU’s Pro Day and all seemed as normal as it could be considering the circumstances.
This past Saturday night, with an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Monday, an argument with a family member ended with Lacy firing a gun into the ground before fleeing in his car.
Police were called, and his car was discovered having apparently crashed. When they went to pull him out, they found him dead.
By his own hand.
It is a shame when any young person’s life unravels like this. More so when that life had so much promise.
There have been many other recent examples of NFL players getting themselves into similar situations.
As recently as Rashee Rice, who crashed his car in an apparent street race in Dallas. Fortunately for Rice, no one was seriously injured.
The Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter was not so lucky while still a Georgia Bulldog.
Also, with his own NFL draft looming in 2023, Carter was racing a friend. That race ended with his friend crashing the car, killing him and his passenger.
While Carter did not cause the crash, he was still sentenced to probation for his role in the race.
Unlike Lacy, Carter managed to salvage his NFL career and won a Super Bowl with Philadelphia in February.
Still, it could have ended so much worse for Carter. Just like it did for both former Dallas Cowboys players, Josh Brent, Jerry Brown, and Dwayne Goodrich.
Brent was the driver in a one-car accident in Irving back in late 2012. Brown was the passenger.
Brent was intoxicated.
Brown did not survive the crash.
Brent was found guilty of manslaughter and was suspended by the league. After his time was served and his suspension ended, he tried to come back in late 2014.
He played one game, at Chicago.
He never saw an NFL field in any team’s uniform again. He was last reported in the news back in 2019 for being intoxicated in public in a fast-food restaurant’s parking lot.
Goodrich’s story only makes Brent’s all the more maddening.
Goodrich had just been released from prison a year before Brent’s DUI crash and had been talking with Cowboys’ rookies about what had happened to him.
For Goodrich, his life also...
