Ohio State Football Player Found in Dumpster With Gun

By Rob Gloster

Photographer: Kristen Zeis/The Columbus Dispatch/AP

Columbus Police block an alley in Columbus, Ohio, while investigating the scene where... Read More

The body of missing Ohio State University defensive lineman Kosta Karageorge was found in a trash bin near campus, Columbus Police said, along with a gun.
Karageorge, 22, a senior who played in one game this season for the Buckeyes, was reported missing by his family last week. His family told police he had several concussions and had texted his mother to say “I am sorry if I am an embarrassment,” the Columbus Dispatch reported.
“At this time, there’s a lot of questions that we’re still trying to work out,” Sergeant Rich Weiner told reporters yesterday. “He was found inside of the dumpster, the handgun was found inside of the dumpster with him.
‘‘At this time we are able to confirm through tattoos here
at the scene that it is the body of Kosta Karageorge,’’ Weiner said.
The 6-foot-3, 273-pound Karageorge became a non-scholarship member of the football team in August after wrestling for the Buckeyes. He was one of 24 seniors set to be honored this weekend before their final home game.
His sister, Sophia Karageorge, told the New York Times in a telephone interview last week that he had ‘‘at least four or five’’ concussions, the most recent in September.
‘‘He had a pretty bad concussion last fall and he told me about differences in his behavior,’’ the newspaper quoted her as saying. ‘‘Just, like, confusion, disorientation, being unable to focus, mood swings -- not feeling like himself, basically, not feeling quite right.’’

NFL Lawsuits

The effect of head injuries on football players has gotten greater scrutiny recently, with the National Football League getting preliminary approval from a federal judge in Philadelphia in July for a $765 million head injury settlement in lawsuits filed by about 5,000 former players.
The accord would reimburse retirees who suffer from a list of qualified injuries including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
The National Collegiate Athletic Administration has proposed a $75 million lawsuit settlement that would screen all NCAA athletes for concussions for 50 years.