Former Southern California defensive back Kevin Ellison, who was a captain for the Trojans before a brief NFL career, has died, He was 31.
USC's athletic department confirmed Ellison's death with a Twitter post on Saturday. The Los Angeles Times reported records from the Los Angeles County coroner's office showed Ellison died on a freeway, though no cause of death was given and an exam was still pending.
Ellison's brother, Chris Ellison, told the Times his brother had mental issues and was walking along Interstate-5 at the time of his death.
The newspaper reported that Ellison's family will donate his brain to researchers at Boston University studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a condition linked with repeated brain damage, including concussions from contact sports like football.
The researchers, who published a study last year looking at CTE in former NFL players, found that Patriots star-turned-convicted murderer, Aaron Hernandez, suffered from the condition when he killed himself last April at age 27.
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"We all played football," Chris Ellison told The Times. "We know the risk that comes with it. Does it have some impact? I’m sure it did. But I don’t know enough about the research to say for certain."
Kevin Ellison played for USC from 2005-08. He was an all-Pac-12 safety and played on teams that won three Rose Bowl games. Ellison was drafted by San Diego in the sixth round in 2009 and played nine NFL games.
