Tragedy struck the hearts of college football players and fans early yesterday morning after receiving the news of former Nicholls running back Altee Tenpenny’s death.

Tenpenny, 20, was driving through Mississippi when he collided with a highway sign around 5 p.m. Tuesday night. The impact sent the vehicle airborne, rolling once before it landed, according to Corporal Tony Dunn of the Mississippi Highway Patrol Department of Public Affairs. The vehicle collided with a utility pole and ejected Tenpenny from the driver’s seat.

Emergency personnel rushed Tenpenny to Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Mississippi, where he died from injuries sustained in the accident. The accident occurred in Glen Allan, Mississippi, which is 170 miles southeast of his hometown.

Every place Tenpenny touched a football or human hand felt reverberations from this disaster. From his hometown of North Little Rock, Arkansas, he became one of the top-ranked running backs in the nation, coming out of high school in 2012 and the consensus No. 1 running back in the state after rushing for 1,121 yards and 23 touchdowns his senior year. His attributes were good enough to earn him a coveted five-star rating by most recruiting websites and Arkansas 7-A All-State honors.

Tenpenny signed with the University of Alabama over Auburn University, the University of Arkansas and Oklahoma State University. At Bama, Tenpenny saw limited action in all 13 of the Crimson Tide’s games in 2013. Despite his short tenure in Tuscaloosa, many Bama players took to social media shortly after the news was reported to express their condolences.

C.J. Mosely, former Crimson Tide linebacker, said on Twitter that Tenpenny kept their Bama locker room laughing. Current Bama running back Kenyan Drake expressed regret in his tweet, saying, “I hate that I lost contact with my brother. We really lost a good one.”

Drake used his Twitter account to retweet a few of Tenpenny’s last tweets: “Wake up and pray every morning,” “Shout out to my school Nicholls State about to put on and of course my first home Alabama #GeauxColonels #RollTide.” Perhaps the most revealing of all, from Sept. 5th, “Father forgive me I f***** up a blessing, whenever I fall you the only one catch me.”

Tenpenny landed in Thibodaux after a very brief transfer from Bama to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he was dismissed from the team for violating team rules. Tenpenny drew plenty of attention and praise in his play at practice, here often outrunning the defense and drawing shouts from the sidelines. Tenpenny came to Thibodaux looking to build on the second chance given to him by head coach Tim Rebowe and running backs coach Alan Ricard.

Unfortunately, Tenpenny never got an opportunity to play for the Colonels. Less than 48 hours before the crash, Tenpenny was arrested in Thibodaux for possession of a firearm and discharging a weapon early Sunday morning. Tenpenny was then suspended from the team indefinitely, and was in the process of withdrawing from Nicholls at the time of the incident.

Social media has been flooded with players from all three universities sending out sympathies, which explain just how much of a positive impact he made on the lives he touched.

For good to come out of this heartbreak we must all learn the lesson that despite how great we may be at a skill or profession, we are all human, finite and dispensable. We don’t know when our time on Earth will end, so live everyday as if the next is not guaranteed, because it certainly is not.

“On behalf of the players, coaches, and all of us at the University, we are extremely saddened by the news of the passing of Altee Tenpenny,” Rebowe said. “We extended our condolences to his friends, family and former teammates.”