Former Ohio State DT Donovan Munger dead at age 30

Former Ohio State defensive tackle Donovan Munger died at age 30, with his mother revealing the news on her Instagram account on Thursday.

A cause of death has not yet been announced.

“My heart will never beat the same,” Munger’s mother wrote. “It is with my deepest sadness that I formally announce to the world the passing of my eldest child Donovan Munger. Pray for my family.”

A former four-star prospect out of high school, Donovan Munger would win a national championship while with the Buckeyes.

He initially redshirted in 2013 due to a pulmonary embolism found in his lungs. He would take a year off, returning to the field in short order for the 2014 season.

That year Ohio State made a run to the national championship game and Munger appeared in 11 games.

He finished that season with five tackles and one tackle for a loss.

But medical conditions later ended Donovan Munger’s college playing career. He hung up the cleats in 2016 after further issues were discovered with blood clots.

“It’s tough,” Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson said in 2016. “You put your whole life into playing this game of football and you love it so much and then it gets taken away from you. It’s a tough thing to kind of swallow, but I think he understands this is best for him. He’ll still be a part of us, be a part of our unit and a guy that we can talk to, but I think now it gives us a chance to move on in his life and do a great job in the classroom. Get his degree and if he wants to get into coaching, he’ll be able to do that. But right now, the best part of him is just taking care of himself.”

As a recruit from Shaker Heights in Cleveland, Ohio, Donovan Munger was a top-300 prospect nationally. He checked in at No. 293 overall in the 2013 class, ranking as the No. 36 defensive lineman. He also checked in as the No. 17 overall player from the state of Ohio that cycle.