High school football practices have just started in parts of the United States. Though we’re just days into August, five players and one coach are dead nationwide.

In most of the cases, officials were still trying to determine if heat played a role. Temperatures soared over 100 degrees in at least three incidents.

With the season right around the corner, the sudden epidemic is troubling.

The latest casualties came Tuesday. Forest Jones, a 16-year old lineman at Locust Grove High School, died Tuesday night after collapsing at a voluntary workout the week before.

His death was preceded by Fitzgerald High School (Ga.) lineman DJ Searcy, who was found dead in his cabin after practice at a football camp at O’Leno State Park in Florida. Both deaths were reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Last Saturday in South Carolina, TyQuan Brantley, a 14-year old freshman at Lamar High School, collapsed and died after conditioning practice. The Darlington County coroner said he was reluctant to say heat was the cause of Brantley’s death until he received confirmation from test results. Temperatures were reportedly as high as 101 degrees.

In Pennsylvania, Boiling Springs senior Sam Gitt died July 28 after a football camp practice at Albright College in Reading. Tests haven’t returned, but Berks County second chief deputy coroner Wally Woytovich said heat wasn’t the cause despite temperatures rising as high as 106 degrees in Reading.

A day earlier, in Miramar, Florida (just north of Miami), senior Isaiah Laurencin went into cardiac arrest after a conditioning drill and died the following morning. It was only 88 degrees in Broward County and tests haven’t returned. The 6-foot-3, 286-pound lineman, who had at least three scholarship offers , reportedly passed a physical before practices began.

Wade McLain, a 55-year old assistant coach at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas died on Tuesday for what has been determined as “extreme heat and underlying heart conditions.” Temperatures reportedly reached 100 degrees on the first day practice.

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