Nebraska Football Player Deals With Fallout From Massacre In Hometown

While the entire country tries to grasp what happened earlier this week in Las Vegas, there is one Nebraska football player who is likely taking what happened more personally than most. Freshman wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey is from Las Vegas. He played his high school ball at Bishop Gorman High School.

Early Monday morning, Lindsey took to Twitter to send out his own thoughts and prayers to the people in his hometown. It’s a safe bet that when he sent out that Tweet, he couldn’t be sure that everyone he knew back home was safe and sound. Lindsey tweeted out, “praying for my family, friends, and others who are in Las Vegas at the moment… Stay safe out there, this is a horrific world we live in…”

In the meantime, while he deals with the news of more than 59 people dead and over 500 injured in Las Vegas, Tyjon Lindsey and the rest of his Nebraska football teammates are getting ready for the biggest game of their season. The Huskers take on the Wisconsin Badgers, with the winners of that game having the inside track on the Big Ten West division lead. It’s been a difficult season for Lindsey and his teammates. The fact that this is the first season in Lincoln for the wide receiver likely makes it that much harder.

The Nebraska football team has had to deal with opening the season 1-2 for the second time in Mike Riley’s tenure. Among those two losses was the very unexpected home defeat to Northern Illinois. For his part, while Lindsey has kept quiet about how the team has used him, likely thinking he would see more than nine catches through the team’s first five games. Still, it’s quite the accomplishment that the freshman has managed to get on the field as much as he has so far in 2017.

Lindsey’s worries about playing time, and even the game against Wisconsin, are likely taking a backseat to his concerns over his hometown. College athletes aren’t supposed to have to worry about whether or not they know anyone who got caught in a hail of gunfire. Unfortunately, at least one Nebraska football player has to deal with exactly that this week.

[Featured Image by Nati Harnik/AP Images]