WILLIAMSBURG — The cause of death for professional football player, Lorenzo Taliaferro, has been released by the medical examiner.
Taliaferro died on December 16, 2020 of cocaine and fentanyl intoxication, the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said.
The death has been ruled an accident, according to district administrator, Donna Price. York County Sherriff’s Deputies responded to the 100 block of Windsor Lane and found him unresponsive. He was rushed to Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. At the time, a family friend reported that he had died from a heart attack.
Taliaferro was just days shy of his twenty-ninth birthday.
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Taliaferro was an alumni of Bruton High School in York County. While attending the area high school, Taliaferro was a two-way player and helped the school’s football team went to the Group AA Division 3 state final. and also played college football for Lackawanna College and Coastal Carolina University. At Coastal Carolina, he was the Football Championship Subdivision All-American.
In 2014, he was the co-recipient of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Male Athlete of the Year award and was voted the Big South Male Athlete of the year.
He was a fourth-round pick in the 2014 NFL draft and spent three seasons in Baltimore, totaling 339 rushing yards and five touchdowns from 2014-2017 before being sidelined due to an injury.
