A three-star defensive tackle prospect from Alabama with scholarship offers from some of America’s most prestigious college football programs was charged with capital murder on Wednesday, according to the Gadsden Times.
Jesse Altman, a 17-year-old junior at Etowah High in Alabama, was charged with capital murder along with four other teenagers in connection with the shooting death of 18-year-old Aaron “A.J.” Huff. While police have not made the motive behind the death clear, early reporting indicates that Huff and another of the teenagers charged in his death — Tyler Abbott — were acquainted and engaged in a verbal altercation which preceded the shooting.
Altman is rated as a three-star prospect by both Rivals.com and 247Sports, though it’s clear college coaches think the 6-foot-1, 295-pounder has the potential to achieve far more. He allegedly already holds scholarship offers from the likes of Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia, TCU, Oregon, Kentucky and Mississippi State, and has received interest from Alabama and Florida State.
Needless to say, all of those potential destinations will be holding back from further pursuit of the lineman until more clarity emerges about the charges against him. More specifically, he’s either going to have his charges dropped, or he’ll certainly never play college football.
According to the Times, it’s believed that one of the five teens who have been charged stepped out of their car and was the gunman who shot Abbott, though it is uncertain which was the shooter.
That won’t necessarily make a difference in Altman’s fate. It might just mitigate exactly how much time he spends behind bars if he is in fact guilty of being involved in Abbott’s death.