Former Stanford football and baseball player Zach Hoffpauir has died. He was 26.
Hoffpauir was set to begin his first season as defensive backs coach at Northern Colorado. The school said Hoffpauir died in his sleep on Thursday morning.
A cause of death wasn’t divulged. He reportedly died in Arizona.
One of Hoffpauir’s closest friends was former Stanford teammate and now-Carolina Panthers star Christian McCaffrey.
“Yesterday Heaven gained an angel, and I lost of one of my best friends in the world,” McCaffrey wrote on his Instagram account. “Zach showed me the way when I got to college. He did things the right way.
“He taught me how to enjoy life. He taught me how to not give a (expletive) about what people think about me, and to do it my way.”
McCaffrey’s father, Ed, is the head coach at Northern Colorado and hired Hoffpauir in February.
The former NFL receiver is deeply hurt by the tragic loss.
“I am devastated by the loss of Zach Hoffpauir, a friend to me and my family since his playing days with my son Christian at Stanford,” Ed McCaffrey wrote on his Instagram account.” He was like a brother to our boys and recently found his calling as our safeties coach at Northern Colorado.
“He was a young, intelligent coach with limitless potential. Mostly he loved sharing his life and experiences with our players who he was born to mentor. My sincere condolences to Zach’s family and his many friends.”
