Former Huskies star Te’o-Nesheim, 30, dies

Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, one of the more popular and successful players in recent Huskies football history, died at 30 on Hawaii’s big island, where he was head coach at his alma mater, Hawaii Preparatory Academy. No cause of death has been released.

A native of American Samoa, Te’o-Nesheim played at Washington from 2005 to 2009, where he became UW’s all-time sacks leader at the time with 30 and was a team captain. He was an honorable mention on the conference’s all-academic team and graduated with a degree in visual arts.

He was second-team all-Pac-12 his senior year and was taken in the third round, 86th overall, by the Philadelphia Eagles. He went on to play three seasons with Tampa Bay. He played in 39 NFL games and had five career sacks.

HPA released a statement that said it was “deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our friend, colleague and alumnus Daniel Te’o-Nesheim. Daniel, a 2005 graduate of HPA, returned to his alma mater in August of 2015 as an assistant football coach and assumed the head coach position in May of 2017. He was also a member of our residential boarding program, serving as a dorm parent.

“HPA is working to support our students and community through this difficult time. We feel Daniel’s loss acutely in our HPA ‘ohana, and our hearts go out to his family and friends.”

Former UW defensive line coach Randy Hart told the Seattle Times, “He was really excited to start coaching. He felt like he was finding his niche, which was really cool. This is a total shock. It’s not supposed to happen this way.”

All of Montlake mourns the loss of former Husky, Daniel Te’o-Nesheim.

Deepest condolences to his friends and family. pic.twitter.com/PHoJpw5xev

— UW Football (@UW_Football) October 30, 2017