Former St. Thomas Aquinas standout wide receiver and Miami Hurricanes player Sam Bruce died Thursday morning at the age of 24.

The cause of Bruce’s death was not immediately clear.

The nephew of NFL Hall of Fame player Isaac Bruce, Sam was a star receiver at St. Thomas Aquinas from 2014 to 2015 and helped the Raiders win back-to-back state titles during that span. He made a combined 66 catches for 847 yards and 11 touchdowns during his junior and senior seasons while also carrying the ball 29 times for 190 yards and three scores.

Bruce left St. Thomas Aquinas and graduated from Westlake Prep in 2016 after a photo surfaced online of him holding a gun.

A former four-star prospect, Bruce committed to the University of Miami in July 2014. He never played a game for the Hurricanes, though, after being dismissed from the program during his freshman year “due to multiple violations of team rules and a failure on his part to meet the clear expectations established to be part of the Miami football program.”

Bruce explained what he said some of his violations were in 2021, including oversleeping and missing the team bus on the day of a game against Florida State.

Several of Bruce’s former teammates and coaches took to Twitter to share their shock and condolences of Bruce’s death, including former Hurricanes defensive backs coach DeMarcus Van Dyke.

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