Lawrence Phillips Is Dead in Suspected Suicide in Prison

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Lawrence Phillips, the star Nebraska running back whose N.F.L. career was derailed by his many off-field problems, died Wednesday morning in a suspected suicide, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a news release.

The department said Phillips was found unresponsive in his prison cell at Kern Valley State Prison shortly after midnight and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Since 2008, Phillips, 40, had been serving a 31-year-4-month sentence for offenses including choking his girlfriend and driving a car into three people after losing a pickup football game.

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Phillips was also suspected of killing his cellmate Damion Soward last year, the department said, and was in the early stages of a first-degree murder trial in that case.

As a college sophomore, Phillips was the key player on Nebraska’s 1994 national championship team, running for 1,722 yards. He was suspended the next year after being suspected of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and dragging her down three flights of stairs by her hair. He was eventually reinstated, amid much criticism, and ended up playing in five games.

Despite his off-field problems, he was selected sixth in the 1996 draft by the St. Louis Rams and was widely expected to star in the league. The Rams were high enough on Phillips to trade away Jerome Bettis, their star back. Bettis went on to a Hall of Fame career at Pittsburgh, while Phillips lasted just a year before being cut amid more off-field issues.

He played in just three N.F.L. seasons for three teams, the Rams, the Dolphins and the 49ers. He also continued to have legal problems, including more assault allegations. He was cut from his final team, San Francisco, after refusing to practice. He also spent time in N.F.L. Europe and the Canadian Football League.


An earlier version of this article misstated the year Lawrence Phillips was suspected of killing his cellmate. It was last year, not 2013.