Shane Olivea, a former offensive tackle for the Chargers and Ohio State, has died, the Chargers announced Thursday in a press release. He was 40 years old.
Olivea played for the Buckeyes between 2000 and 2003, including the team’s 2002 national championship run. He was selected by the Chargers in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft and became a central figure to the offense. Over the four seasons he played in the league, he started all but seven regular season games.
Following his fourth season with the Chargers, Olivea was cut from the team after entering the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. He spent 89 days in the rehabilitation center to combat an opioid addiction he developed during his rookie season.
In 2016, Olivea told the Columbus Dispatch that during the peak of his addiction, he took 125 Vicodin pills a day. His doctors referred to him as a “walking miracle” for surviving after taking that many pills daily.
“There wasn’t one day in the NFL I wasn’t high on a pill after my rookie year,” Olivea said.
Following his time with the Chargers, the offensive tackle did not play in the NFL again. Olivea later played for the United States Football League’s Florida Tuskers and Virginia Destroyers during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, respectively.
Eleven years after dropping out to pursue his NFL dream, Olivea returned to Ohio State to finish his undergraduate degree. He graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in sports industry.
“I looked at it like three times,” Olivea said, per the Columbus Dispatch. “I never thought I’d ever see a college diploma with my name on it.”
As of Friday morning, the cause of his death has not been released.
