In the middle of making a routine check-in call to the office early Tuesday afternoon, I received the news.

“Did you hear about the Alcorn State football player who was shot and killed late last night?” My editor asked.

I had not. But, after I got off the phone, the usual myriad of questions began to run through my mind. But the main issue that is going through everyone’s mind is why?

Why did a young man trying to help a young girl who was being attacked get rewarded by having his life snuffed out in its prime?

I guess we’ll never know.

The fact is I never met JeKelcy Johnson, a redshirt sophomore linebacker from Port Gibson, who toiled in the unsung hero role of the Braves scout team, but plenty in Lorman did, and their lives were certainly enriched for it.

The shock and agonizing pain that ripped through the ranks of the Braves football team, already having a tough enough season, was confirmed after placing a call to Johnson’s position coach, defensive coordinator Karl Morgan.

Morgan recounted how at a noon team meeting the emotions all came pouring forth.

“It was an extremely emotional gathering, there were a lot of tears,” Morgan said. “Many of the players got up and spoke about what had happened and the overall impact Johnson had on their lives. He was sort of a quiet guy who didn’t say too much, but he was certainly a hard worker and someone that was well liked; a fixture on this team.”

Situations such as this will make people close to the incident take stock of their lives. If the recent tragedies in New York and the Pentagon didn’t, then you can be sure this week and the weeks to come are going to be pretty tough, not just for everyone who wears a Braves uniform, but for every person that walks on the Alcorn campus day and night.

As a college student, aren’t you supposed to feel safe in the place where you live and study? I’m sure that’s what Johnson’s parents thought, but I guess that’s asking a little too much.

Yes, he wasn’t the team’s star defensive player, but he was just as important as anyone else. At barely 5-9 and 215, the determined young man may have been viewed as sort of a real life “Rudy” figure. and like that character, Johnson was loved by his teammates.

Morgan said he was surprised how many of the players were directly touched by Johnson.

That list included himself.

“He was my kind of player, a low maintenance type of guy that gave his total effort. He worked hard every day hoping to make it on to the game day depth chart.”

And now, because of the senseless, idiotic actions of some thuggery that had no business on a college campus, we’ll never know if Johnson would have made it into a game.

And that’s a shame.

Morgan took my argument a step further and it’s nothing that you haven’t heard before, but certainly worth repeating again.

“When is senseless nonsense like this going to stop,” he pondered. “When are black males going to quit thinking they can just pick up a gun and shoot somebody over useless nonsense. It happens all too often in the black community.”

And the greatest travesty is it has to happen to a football player for many of us to give it a second look.