AJ Simon, Former Albany Star and 2024 NFL Draft Hopeful, Passes Away at 25

AJ Simon, a promis­ing defen­sive line­man from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Albany and a hope­ful for the 2024 NFL Draft, has trag­i­cal­ly passed away at the age of 25. The uni­ver­si­ty announced the news, describ­ing Simon as a “tremen­dous young man” and an excep­tion­al team­mate dur­ing his time at UAlbany.

No cause of death was revealed in the announce­ment. Albany’s head foot­ball coach, Greg Gat­tuso, expressed his con­do­lences on social media, say­ing, “My prayers are ded­i­cat­ed to the Simon fam­i­ly. I love you AJ and will always have a spe­cial place in my heart for you.”

Simon had an impres­sive col­lege foot­ball career, earn­ing first-team All-CAA hon­ors in his final sea­son and record­ing 12.5 sacks. Although he was­n’t as wide­ly rec­og­nized as some oth­er prospects, Simon was gain­ing atten­tion from NFL teams and was con­sid­ered a poten­tial late-round pick.

The 2024 NFL Draft is sched­uled to take place from April 25–27 in Detroit, Michi­gan. Simon’s untime­ly pass­ing has deeply affect­ed the foot­ball com­mu­ni­ty, who are mourn­ing the loss of a tal­ent­ed and ded­i­cat­ed young athlete.