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Former Wisconsin football player Jack Pugh, who walked away from college football due to mental health issues, has died, the university announced Tuesday. He was 24.
Pugh, an Ohio native, was a tight end on the Badgers’ football team from 2021 to 2022. His cause of death was not immediately known.
Pugh redshirted his freshman year and made his debut for Wisconsin in a game against Minnesota the following season. However, in December 2023, he announced that he was walking away from the sport due to mental health issues. (Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics)
“The Wisconsin Athletics family is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Jack Pugh. Jack was a positive light and brought true spirit to our football program. More than that, he cared about people and was loved by his teammates and staff,” the statement read.
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“Jack proudly earned his degree from UW-Madison in 2025 and will forever be remembered and loved.”
Pugh redshirted his freshman year and made his debut for Wisconsin in a game against Minnesota the following season. However, in December 2023, he announced that he was walking away from the sport due to mental health issues.
Pugh redshirted his freshman year and made his debut for Wisconsin in a game against Minnesota the following season. However, in December 2023, he announced that he was walking away from the sport due to mental health issues. (Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics)
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“I made a decision before the football season to retire, which I have not yet formally announced. My physical health was nowhere near perfect, but my mental health was the reason I decided to call it quits,” he wrote in an Instagram post at the time.
“During years of long-term depression and substance abuse, I decided I deserved a better life and to finally find happiness. By no means was football the root of these problems, but everything in my life had distracted me for so long that I had never prioritized my mental health all the time, digging a deeper, darker hole.”
Pugh redshirted his freshman year and made his debut for Wisconsin in a game against Minnesota the following season. However, in December 2023, he announced that he was walking away from the sport due to mental health issues. (Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics)
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New York Jets running back Braelon Allen, who was Pugh’s teammate during their time at Wisconsin, shared a message on X apparently in response to the news of Pugh’s death.
“Protect your mental,” his post X.
