There’s an update on the health of a UNLV football player which, football-wise, isn’t positive.
Last Tuesday during a UNLV football team offseason workout, Darran Williams suffered a heart attack while running sprints. After initially being placed in a medically-induced coma, the most recent update, which came late last week, was that the running back was “awake and responding.”
This past weekend, Williams’ father posted a note of thanks on Twitter.
— Keith Williams (@keithsweat17) February 2, 2020
In a subsequent conversation with Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Keith Williams revealed that his son has an enlarged heart and will require the use of a defibrillator. As a result, Darran Williams, who should be released from the hospital later this week, will be forced to retire from the sport of football.
Despite the forced retirement, the younger Williams will remain a part of the UNLV football program in an unspecified capacity. He will also remain on scholarship, but won’t count against the program’s 85-man limit mandated by the NCAA.
In his first season with the Rebels in 2019, Williams ran for 79 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. He also caught a pair of passes for 11 yards.
Williams, a native of Oklahoma, spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College.
The UNLV football program sent out the following statement when news of the situation involving one of its players first surfaced:
Since releasing that initial statement, the UNLV football program has not offered any updates of its own.