STORRS, Conn. — A Connecticut football player who was an expectant father was stabbed to death early Sunday after an on-campus dance, just hours after helping his team to a homecoming victory.
Jasper Howard, 20, of Miami, and another student were stabbed during a fight after a fire alarm was pulled at a university-sanctioned dance at the UConn Student Union early Sunday morning, police said.
Police had not identified a suspect or released the name of the other victim.
UConn coach Randy Edsall said the team was heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Howard, a junior and the team’s starting cornerback who came to the school to get away from the violence on Miami streets. He became the first person in his family to go to college.
“I know this,” Edsall said, his eyes red and welling with tears, “he loved UConn, he loved his teammates, he loved everything about this.”
Edsall said Howard’s death was especially tragic because he was about to become a father. Edsall identified the expectant mother as Howard’s girlfriend.
“As Jazz looks down on us, I can promise him and his family, that son or daughter will have 105 uncles,” punter Desi Cullen, a team captain, said at an news conference.
“And we will do what it takes to not get through this, but to grow from it.”
