Sports: Darling autopsy reveals nothing

Darling autopsy reveals nothing

Cause of death still unknown for the FSU linebacker, whose teammates struggle to cope.

By BRIAN LANDMAN

TALLAHASSEE -- As the Florida State Seminoles continued to deal with their grief after the sudden death of freshman linebacker Devaughn Darling, what happened to an apparently healthy 18-year-old remained a mystery.

An autopsy performed Tuesday morning was inconclusive.

"It revealed no finding of cause of death," FSU police spokesman Maj. Jack Handley said. "Now it becomes a waiting process of 4-6 weeks for the results from various lab tests to come back to the medical examiner to determine a cause."

That was predictable, at least according to sports medicine expert Dr. Jonathan Chang at the University of Southern California. He told the Times Monday that the autopsy likely would show no immediate cause, which could mean Darling suffered a heart problem during the "mat drills," an intensive session of three 21-minute segments that demand a break-neck pace through jumping, running and lateral movements.

Freshman offensive lineman Bobby Meeks lent some credence to that.

Although he wasn't working out in the same part of the gymnasium as Darling during Monday morning's session, he told a Houston television station Monday night that Darling complained of chest pains but didn't want to say anything to the trainers.

"Some people may think I was blaming the FSU trainers in my interview, but I wasn't," Meeks said in a statement Tuesday. "I think the trainers do a good job. Like I said, Devaughn didn't tell me, the coaches or the trainers that he had chest pain. They didn't know that. He got back in the drill and finished. He hadn't passed out in drills before or anything like that, but he had not finished a couple of times. I hope my words aren't misunderstood. This has been a very difficult thing for all of us."

Many of the players, some still teary-eyed, walked uneasily through the Moore Athletic Center on Tuesday as if groping for a light switch in the darkness, a darkness that seemingly enveloped the entire campus.

"Everybody's in the realization (stage) of it all," said sophomore defensive end Alonzo Jackson, one of the few Seminoles emotionally able to talk Tuesday about the incident. "I feel it's just sinking in."

"It's hard, but there's nothing you can really say. That's why it's so quiet around here," sophomore running back/receiver Nick Maddox said.

The somber mood isn't expected to change soon.

A funeral visitation will take place tonight, and a memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday in the Ruby Diamond Auditorium on campus. In lieu of flowers, the Darling family members request that donations be made to an endowed scholarship fund established in memory of their son, who few outside the FSU family knew.

Even to his teammates, Darling came off as quiet and genteel.

But he also knew when to speak up. After he made his initial contact with Darling and his twin Devard, FSU recruiting coordinator John Lilly said he received a phone call almost every other day from the brothers.

"And they'd call collect," Lilly said. "Devaughn was always the one who called. ... He was the more talkative of the two. Devaughn committed the twins."

Although the Darling brothers were not as touted as some of their classmates, FSU coaches had high hopes for both, especially given the athletic prowess of their family. Their older brother, Dennis, is a world-class sprinter, and a cousin, Frank Rutherford, won a bronze medal in the triple jump in the 1996 Olympics.

But the Darlings grew up in the Bahamas and, despite adoring the Miami Dolphins, they didn't play organized football until 1994, after they had moved to Houston.

"He was going to be a premier player on this team," Maddox said of Devaughn. "On the field, he was tenacious, a hard worker, always intense and willing to learn. He was a coach's player. That goes hand-in-hand with being a model child. A coach wants the same thing out of kid that parents want. He was everything you'd want in a football player."

Said Jackson: "I talked to him at practice numerous times and he tried to understand the defense and step in and be the linebacker behind Brian Allen last year. He was dedicated in learning all he could about the game of football here at Florida State. He worked hard in class. He was just an honest, upstanding kid."

Both players now pray for the best for the family, especially Devard, who saw some time as a receiver last season.

"Hopefully, he'll come back really hard; hopefully it'll be motivation and he won't take it all as a negative," Maddox said. "That's hard to do at this point, but hopefully he can turn it around in his favor."

Anyone interested in donating to the memorial scholarship can call (850) 644-3484 or send a check payable to the Darling Endowed Scholarship, Seminole Boosters Inc., P.O. Box 1353, Tallahassee, FL 32302.