Texas linebacker Jake Ehlinger found dead in Austin

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas linebacker Jake Ehlinger, the younger brother of former Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger, was found dead near campus Thursday, Austin police said.

Officers found the 20-year-old Ehlinger after responding to a call at 12:18 p.m. Police did not detail how they found him but said the death is not considered suspicious. No cause of death was immediately released.

Jake Ehlinger had not played the last two seasons after arriving as a walk-on from Austin’s Westlake High School.

Sam Ehlinger was a sixth-round pick in the NFL draft last week by the Indianapolis Colts after a college career

that saw him rank among Texas’ career passing leaders.

“We grieve and weep with the Ehlinger family. Prayers, love and support,” Colts owner Jim Irsay tweeted.

When Sam Ehlinger was drafted, Jake’s face was accidentally shown on the NFL Network instead of Sam. “Jake deserves all the screen time you can get,” Sam joked with reporters.

Jake’s death is the second tragedy to hit the Ehlinger family. Ross Ehlinger, Sam and Jake’s father, died at age 46 in 2013 of an apparent heart attack while competing in a triathlon in San Francisco.

Texas did not immediately release a statement and a spokesman did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Tavatanakit and Thitikul lead home LPGA Thailand by 1

PATTAYA, Thailand — Local stars Patty Tavatanakit and Atthaya Thitikul carded 8-under 64s to share a stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Thailand on Thursday.

Tavatanakit, who became Thailand’s new leading female golfer following her breakthrough win at the ANA Inspiration last month, shot nine birdies against a lone bogey on the sixth hole in drizzle conditions.

Despite no spectators because of the pandemic, Tavatanakit was playing under high home expectations. A Thai has never won this U.S. LPGA Tour event. She kept her cool and led alongside teenage prodigy Thitikul at Siam Country Club.

“I left myself in really good positions on the green,” Tavatanakit said. “I made some mistakes here and there, but I was able to recover and just walk away from the hole with a lot of pars when it wasn’t birdie.”

Coming off a tie for third in Singapore last weekend, Tavatanakit has replaced former world No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn as Thailand’s highest-ranked woman at 12th.

“It’s always been my dream to just be in the mix of really good players. But I don’t want to compare myself to anyone,” she said. “I just want to stick to my own goals and don’t really care who’s ahead of me or if I’m behind anyone.”

NHL fines Rangers $250K for criticizing player safety call

The New York Rangers were fined an extraordinary $250,000 by the NHL on Thursday for “demeaning” public comments about head of player safety George Parros.

After the league’s department of player safety fined but did not suspend Washington’s Tom Wilson for his role in a scrum against the Rangers that left Artemi Panarin injured, the team released a statement calling the decision a dereliction of duty and saying Parros was unfit to remain in his job.

The Rangers were fined 50 times more than the $5,000 fine against Wilson for roughing Pavel Buchnevich. It’s believed to be the largest publicly announced fine of an NHL team by the league office for making critical comments.