HEADLINE

Incoming UAB freshman Smith drowns

Field Level Media

May 28, 2020 at 4:19 pm.

Incoming UAB freshman football player Jamari Smith drowned Wednesday afternoon in a lake in Lee County, Ala. He was 18.

“Our hearts are broken to learn about the tragic passing of Jamari Smith,” UAB coach Bill Clark said in a statement Thursday. “We want to send our deepest condolences to the entire Smith family. Jamari was an upstanding young man with an extremely bright future. He’ll always be a Blazer.”

Coroner Bill Harris told AL.com that Smith was swimming with friends at the lake when he apparently grew tired and slipped below the surface. First responders found him underwater and rushed him to the emergency room at East Alabama Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. No foul play is suspected, Harris told AL.com, and the case is being treated as an accidental drowning.

Smith recently graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery, Ala., where he starred in football and basketball, including helping the basketball team win the state championship in 2020.

Smith was expected to play defensive back for the Blazers.