OSU football player Fred Thompson passes away

Oregon State University officials confirmed the death of freshman defensive tackle Fred Thompson tonight at OSU's Dixon Recreation Center.

Thompson was playing pick-up basketball on the upstairs courts at Dixon when he collapsed. He was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis and pronounced dead.

Unofficial reports say he died of an apparent heart attack.

The call to 911 was placed at 6:20 p.m. and Thompson was transported to Good Samaritan at 7:00.

Grief stricken football players took to social media around 8 p.m.

Freshman running back Storm Woods posted "RIP bro we gotta do it for you!!" on his Twitter account shortly after 8:00.

Fellow freshman running back Malcolm Agnew tweeted "Wow, don't even know what to say right now" minutes after Woods's tweet.

"It's one of the those shocking moments," said ASOSU president Tonga Hopoi. "It puts things in perspective. "

Hopoi said she ran into senior safety Lance Mitchell and two younger football players she could not identify after finding out the news from junior wide receiver Markus Wheaton.

"It was a quiet moment, everyone just stood there, and the first thing everyone thought about was calling their families," Hopoi said.

Hopoi said she's met Thompson "in passing," and referred to the 6-foot-4, 371-pounder as a "gentle giant."

Thompson, considered a greyshirt in 2011, was four days from turning 20 years old. The Richmond, Calif. native was a first team all-city selection at Oakland Tech High School as a senior in 2009, registering 90 tackles and seven sacks.