Ian Davis didn’t make the Georgia Bulldogs’ spring roster, but he was very much a part of the team.
The 22-year-old baseball player from Dunwoody died in the wee hours Sunday morning in a car accident that also claimed the life of former Auburn football star Phillip Lutzenkirchen, 23.
“You’re just kind of speechless when you hear something like that,” said Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin, who heard the news from another Bulldogs player early Sunday afternoon. “He was a kid who had so much ahead of him. He was just a great kid, one of those kids when he walked into a room he lit it up. A really, really bright kid who everybody liked being around. We’re all just really, really heartbroken and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
Stricklin said he had not yet been in touch with Davis’ parents, Swanton and Geena Davis of Dunwoody. “It’s a bit of a whirlwind right now,” he said. “I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”
Davis, a catcher, transferred to Georgia from USC-Sumter Junior College this past fall with the hopes of making the Bulldogs’ 2014 roster. He did not make team but remained close to the players and coaches. An honor roll student, he was set to graduate and his baseball career was over.
Davis was one of four occupants of a 2006 Chevy Tahoe traveling near LaGrange early Sunday in southeastern Troupe County, police told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. At approximately 3:06 a.m., that vehicle ran through a stop sign at a T-intersection and into a churchyard, ejecting three of the four occupants. Davis and Lutzenkirchen were killed, police said.
Lutzenkirchen was a teammate and close friend of Georgia quarterback Hutson Mason from their days at Lassiter High School in Marietta. He went on to star as a tight end at Auburn and was member of the Tigers’ 2010 national championship team.
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