Ole Miss community mourns passing of former Rebels player Justin Sawyer
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Sad news to pass along out of Mississippi this weekend.
Former Ole Miss player Justin Sawyer suffered a heart attack in his sleep Friday night, passing away at the age of 36.
https://twitter.com/olemissfb/status/833142195960045568
“I know he was an incredible husband and an incredible dad and he was going to impact so many lives as a mentor,” former Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe told Neal McCready of Rebel Grove. “I’m just torn up about it.”
Sawyer played under Cutcliffe from 1999-2003. As a senior, Cutcliffe had Sawyer move from tight end to offensive line because he needed a big body to protect Eli Manning.
“Justin and I came to Ole Miss the same year in 1999,” Manning told McCready. “He was a great friend and teammate. He is definitely the only player to ever snap the ball to me and catch a touchdown from me. I am so saddened to hear about his passing. He was too young for this to happen.”
Earlier this year, Sawyer accepted the head coaching position at West Lincoln high school in Brookhaven, Miss. The past three years, Sawyer had served as defensive coordinator at Lawrence County.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
