Kosta Karageorge found dead; Ohio State football player complained of concussions

The body of missing Ohio State Buckeyes football player Kosta Karageorge was found Sunday in a trash bin near his apartment, Columbus police said.

The 22-year-old appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, although the county morgue will continue investigating, a police spokesman told reporters.

About 2:30 p.m. local time, the spokesman said, police received a call from a woman who said she and her son were going through the trash bin when they found a body. Tattoos helped investigators confirm it was Karageorge.

A handgun was found with Karageorge in the trash bin, police said.

Karageorge, a senior walk-on defensive tackle, had been missing since Wednesday, Columbus police said. He was described as 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 285 pounds.

Karageorge, who also was on the university’s wrestling team, is said to have had a history of concussions from playing sports. He told his mother they had taken a toll on him, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

According to a police report, Karageorge’s mother, Susan, said her son texted her at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to say, “I am sorry if I am an embarrassment but these concussions have my head all [messed] up,� the Dispatch reported.

That was the last anyone heard from him.

Buckeyes Coach Urban Meyer said Saturday that Karageorge “joined the football team in August and was a hard worker on the field and pleasant off the field. He has been an important player in practice for us, right up until the time he was reported missing.�

The team defeated rival Michigan on Saturday, 42-28. According to the Associated Press, lineman Michael Bennett said afterward that Karageorge had missed practices and that teammates began to get nervous Thursday.

The Ohio State athletics department said Sunday in a statement that it “was shocked and saddened to learn� of the death, adding: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Karageorge family, and those who knew him, during this most difficult time.�

Times staff writer Ryan Parker contributed to this report.

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