Ex-Iowa State Football Player Jason Thomas Berryman was found dead on Wednesday in his East Texas home.
Succumbing to multiple gunshot wounds, the body of the 28-year-old former Cyclone player was found by family members who were just so happening to be visiting someone else in the area.
There is no official indication to why Berryman’s death took place but police chief Joe C. Hall says that they’re in pursuit of several leads.
According to ESPN:
“Berryman played during the 2003 and 2005 seasons at Iowa State…in 2003, during his freshman year, he was the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year and an All Big 12 honorable mention. He recorded 110 tackles along with three sacks, and was named a freshman All-American.”
Berryman’s sport career involved a lifestyle of run-ins with the law including arrests and jail time, which led to his removal from the Cyclone team in 2005. In 2008, he was arrested in Iowa with yet an additional charge.
However, his lifestyle never overshadowed his achievements on the field.
According to spokesman for the Iowa State’s athletics department, Mike Green, he told ESPN that in the 2005 Houston Bowl Berryman accomplished “72 tackles that year and led the team with 7.5 sacks.”
“He was a difference maker on defense, and I know that he’s going to be missed by the Cyclone family,” Green said.
The Cyclones tweeted their condolences to the family:
Thoughts and prayers go out to the Berryman family. #Cyclones http://t.co/x72Q4QtaSE
— Cyclone Football (@CycloneFB) January 10, 2014
According to a tweet posted by Twitter user Keith Murphy, Berryman is not the only Cyclone player who has lost his life:
With Jason Berryman’s alleged murder, the eerie reality is 6 former Cyclones have died since 2003: pic.twitter.com/EUTrQnpYYe — Keith Murphy (@MurphyKeith) January 10, 2014
