Police: Alabama offensive lineman Aaron Douglas found dead in Florida

5/12/2011

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  — Alabama offensive lineman Aaron Douglas, a junior college transfer and onetime Tennessee starter, was found dead on the second floor balcony of a home in Fernandina Beach, Fla., after attending a party, according to police.

Fernandina police chief James T. Hurley released a statement describing what authorities know about Douglas’s final hours.

Witnesses said the 21-year-old Douglas was taking a taxi to Jacksonville after dinner with friends when two women apparently approached the cab and invited him to a party. He arrived between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Douglas was seen at the residence as late as 2 a.m. before a male resident and others discovered him “apparently dead” on the balcony Thursday morning, Hurley said.

Douglas was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner’s office is investigating the cause of death.

No police report was immediately available, according to a dispatcher who answered the phone at the department.

The residence is listed on Zillow.com as a 2,760-square-foot single-family house.

Douglas spent last season as Arizona Western Community College’s starting left tackle and transferred to play for the Crimson Tide in January. According to his Twitter feed, Douglas had been in the Jacksonville, Fla., area this week.

Douglas had tweeted at 11:36 p.m. CDT Wednesday asking “Anybody still up right now?!?”

“It is a tragedy anytime you lose someone close to you and even more so when it is a member of your family,” football coach Nick Saban said in a statement. “Aaron was a part of our family and always will be a part of our family at Alabama. He was an outstanding young man and we were excited about what he had accomplished as a player and a person in the short time he was with us.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his parents, David and Karla, who are two of the best people you will ever meet and the love they had for their son was something very special.”