Family Still Grieves Plancher Death One Year Later

Iliana Limon of the Orlando Sentinel continues her coverage of the death, and now subsequent lawsuit, of former University of Central Florida football player Ereck Plancher.

It's been a year to the day since his passing and the wounds are still fresh...

"The family continues to struggle with their grief from the loss of their son," said J.D. Dowell, the Planchers' attorney. "Their strong family and their faith have enabled them to work through their grief, but every day remains a challenge without their son. It's going to be a very difficult day, being the anniversary of his death, for everyone who knew Ereck."

The Plancher family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Thursday against the UCF board of trustees and the UCF Athletics Association. The sides remain at odds over what happened during Plancher's final workout, with the school insisting it did nothing wrong in responding to the medical emergency.While the legal questions loom, both sides say there is no doubt Plancher was a remarkable person.

"Ereck was an exceptional young man and role model," UCF spokesman Grant Heston said. "He remains in the hearts of our entire UCF family, and he will forever be a Knight."

Plancher never played a snap in a UCF game, but he spent 14 months working out with the team and formed close bonds with several of his teammates.After his death, the wide-receivers corps broke every huddle after practice by saying Plancher's initials and number — "E.P. 28."

AJ Guyton and five of his teammates weren't sure whether O'Leary will do anything unique to honor Plancher today, but they expected wide-receivers coach David Kelly to do something special during the group's position meeting today.

"If not Coach Kelly, then I'm going to get us together and have a moment of silence and just pray and just think about him," Guyton said.

Senior linebacker Cory Hogue, who also is from Naples and attended a rival high school, said the entire team will be thinking of Plancher today.

"He'll be in our prayers," he said. "I'm sure we'll have a moment of silence in our meeting. We'll talk about him because it's a day not to forget and it'll be in our thoughts."

The players said they don't think Plancher's death led to the Knights' 4-8 season. They would have much preferred to post a winning record in honor of their teammate, whose number they wore on their helmets. Plancher's initials also were painted on the field near an end zone in Bright House Networks Stadium.

Plancher did make the young players who once felt untouchable think twice about their own mortality.