ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - Authorities say the death of a football player at Northern State University in Aberdeen was a suicide.

Sully County Sheriff Bill Stahl says 20-year-old Tate Senftner was found dead on New Year's Day in front of his parents' home in Onida. Stahl and County Coroner Mike Carlsen tell the American News that Senftner died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

The Capital Journal reports that Senftner was a standout high school football player, earning all-state honors during his junior and senior seasons at Sully Buttes High School. He was a sophomore at Northern State, where he played linebacker.

NSU football coach Tom Dosch in a statement called Senftner "the epitome of a true student-athlete."

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